Richard Eccles

Lardland Richard Eccles

A mix of politics, real life as it's lived by people without a voice and history make this a unique contemporary novel reflecting the troubled times and the break up of society in modern Britain. Taking place over three days on a desolate council estate in Leeds, Northern England where a community has sprung up living outside the system. Look past the burnt-out cars and the gutted houses and you will discover people living in a community where everyone is safe, everyone works together and where Lardland and the Friedbreads aren't welcome. Burgerman is the leader of the Circle and he knows secrets about the place that take us back 1400 years to a very different world where Christianity was being forced on the people, where English wasn't just the only language spoken in the land and where war and violence were permanent parts of life. Spanning these 1400 years is a love affair that might just save the Circle, because the Circle is under threat from the dark forces that run Modern Britain, the gangster capitalists driven by greed and power. This is an epic tale and a modern fable and a thought-provoking novel that reflects our troubled times across the world - how do the powerless fight back in any sense for their rights, for their land, their heritage, their very presence on this planet?

Lardland is Part 1 of a series that offers hope to the oppressed and those who care about things other than money: justice, nature, peace, cooperation, all those terms that seem to have become so old-fashioned. It has humour, a fabulous array of characters, stories galore, tension, pace and energy and some surprising twists and turns in between the poetry and the history that are the foundations of the world of the Circle.