New novel features key events in Hull’s history
NOVELIST: Hazel Hutchinson
Local writer Hazel Hutchinson has published a new novel, The Widening River.
It features many locations in Hull, as well as key events from the region’s history.
The story begins when the narrator Helen receives a mysterious visit. This leads her on a trail of discovery that unearths a dark secret from the past.
Helen’s story and that of her family are inextricably linked to real life events, from the Blitz of 1941 and the floods of 2007, to the sinking of the Gaul trawler in 1974 and the tidal surge of 2013.
It begins in Hull, but Helen’s world widens out as she travels to a Scottish island, and then to Venice and Barcelona, in search of personal fulfilment.
The idea for the novel came at the start of the 2017 City of Culture year, when Hull’s story was told in a light show projected onto the buildings surrounding Victoria Square.
Hazel was an English teacher in Hull for over 30 years before retiring in 2018 to focus on her writing. Her previous book, Ship to Shore: Five Years in the 1950s, was based on the letters exchanged by her parents when her father was in the Merchant Navy and her mother was at home in Hull.
The Widening River is available to buy from Wrecking Ball Music and Books on Whitefriargate, in Hull city centre. Alternatively, it can be ordered direct by contacting Northsea Publishing via Facebook, or by emailing Hazel on hzlhutchinson@gmail.com.
