The Camellia House & Other Stories
The Camellia House & Other Stories now available to buy
The Camellia House & Other Stories is an anthology of poetry and fiction inspired by the families, gardens and histories of Wentworth Woodhouse. Inside this wonderfully evocative collection, you’ll find the most magnificent range of creative works that tenderly, innovatively, and sometimes humorously, bring history to life through compelling new voices. Consider the historical significance of tea drinking in Lady Rockingham’s Camellia House Tea Room to the advancement of women’s intellectual freedom from the mid-1700s. Witness the lighting of the Marble Saloon in 1834, and immerse yourself in the worlds of Wentworth’s family members and their invisible servant staff. Encounter magical menagerie mammals, birds and garden plants with their own stories to tell of import and adaptation from faraway climes.
£12 (inc.P&P) (discount possible on orders of several copies) The Camellia House & Others Stories offers 45 poems and 16 pieces of short fiction over 112 pages. A wonderful gift for fiction and poetry lovers. Email [email protected] with the number of copies you’d like [pay via bank transfer]. Also available from late Nov 2024 at Wentworth Woodhouse in-house shop.
“The Camellia House & Other Stories offers us a beautiful and varied collection of hymns to the past, as emerging writers celebrate and sing the history of Wentworth Woodhouse. Here you will find exotic animal interactions and religious visions, the voices of aristocrats, servants and disgruntled vegetables, the sound of giggles which carry across history. This wonderful collection creates a place in which the writers of tomorrow and the people of history can meet, through the magic of language, in the most fantastic, shared now.” Jonathan Edwards: Poet & Fiction Writer
“This superb book’s heart beats with the transcendent power of creative responses to history. Each piece here could be a freshly painted room in the great Wentworth House, and each piece could also be a well-lit space in the huge and evolving edifice that is new writing. Read this book. Relish it and feel inspired. Then, of course, write something of your own…” Ian McMillan, Poet & Presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Verb
Accompanying many of the works in the collection, you’ll also find absorbing contextual and historical insights, such as the importance of pineapples in 1800s England, and what life ‘below stairs’ was really like. The anthology features the micro-commissioned works of 31 emerging writers aged 16+ from the Hive network, many of whom were inspired to write several pieces. These include prize-winning writers such as Luke Worthy and Freya Bantiff, and Sheffield Poet Laureates Warda Yassin (2020-22) and Beth Davies (2024-26). There are also pieces from several established local writers including Ian McMillan and Helen Mort.
The project, which led to the works in this collection, was one of several funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund via Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust to offer creative engagement with Wentworth Woodhouse in celebration of the opening of the newly refurbished Camellia House Tea Room, situated in the gardens of Wentworth’s Grade II* listed mansion. We hope you enjoy this stunning slice of history – brought gloriously to creative life – exploring what can only be described as South Yorkshire’s most renowned and fascinating aristocratic dynasty.
With many warm thanks to: Becky Downton, Victoria Ryves, Julie Banham, David Allott, Joshua Daniels, the Off the Shelf team, Helen Mort, Ian McMillan, Helen Angell, Jennifer Booth, Warda Yassin, Nik Perring, Luke Worthy, Jonathan Edwards, Rachel Bower & Vicky Morris.
Proceeds from the book go towards supporting the Hive network and Wentworth Woodhouse Trust.
“This project has shown me that I can be a writer, cementing my passion for the craft, the belief in my ability and the drive I have that this is what I want to do. To showcase Wentworth Woodhouse, a place that means so much to me personally, it was a real pinch me moment, and I can’t wait to share the book with others.” Lucy Nadin
Contributors
Alastair Smith
Anzal Adhan
Becca Drake
Beth Davies
Charlie Jolley
Charlotte Murray
Dillon Butt
Ellen Uttley
Emily Charlton
Erik Ruder
Fae Horsley
Freya Bantiff
Helen Angell
Helen Mort
Holly Thorpe
Ian McMillan
Isabelle Pollard
Jade Beachell
Jenalla Waddington
Jess Lentz
Katherine Henderson
Lauren Hollingsworth Smith
Louisa Rhodes
Lucy Nadin
Luke Worthy
Lydia Allison
Maia Brown
Merila Gramy
Milly Boden
Nik Perring
Rebecca Payne
Rebecca Smith
Sam Parry
Vicky Morris
Warda Yassin