Mar Long Road from Jarrow Stuart Maconie
Seven members of the Book Group met on the 4th of March to review ‘The Long Road from Jarrow’ by Stuart Maconie.
In the autumn of 1936, some 200 men from the Tyneside town of Jarrow marched 300 miles to London in protest against the destruction of their towns and industries. Precisely 80 years on, the Author walks from north to south retracing the route of the emblematic Jarrow Crusade.
Travelling down the country’s spine, he moves through a land that is, in some ways, very much the same as the England of the 30s with its political turbulence, austerity, north/south divide, food banks and of course, football mania. Yet in other ways, it is completely unrecognisable.
The Group enjoyed this book overall; it tells the story of the Jarrow March set against the Britain of 2016. Maconie is an engaging writer, he not only writes about the big issues such as poverty and unemployment but he also tells us more about the quirks of the places on his route.
The book sparked a lively discussion as the Group not only considered the periods covered in the book but also discussed how these issues related to today.
The Group would recommend this as a Good Read.