Gothic, shocking, challenging : ‘Blood and Coal’ by Sue Harper

Blood and Coal is a historic journey through the author, Sue Harper’s, gripping family story ,which starts in the early 1900’s, with her grandfather in Nottingham. 

Sue now lives in Portsmouth where she set up the School of Film, Media and Creative Arts after having “a great hunger to learn” as a child. 

Cover image designed by Adam Everatt 

Sue describes her work as “gothic, shocking and challenging” which could not ring more true in this heart-wrenching retelling of her their tough working life.

Each character is introduced from Harper’s own perspective but she also gives them their own voices through imaginary conversations. The use of these imagined conversations adds an extraordinary layer of emotional depth and presents a battle between her extreme love and respect for them but also how alienated she is from their experiences. 

Sue gave me permission to share this photo of her, present day

She imagines her grandmother saying “You don’t know how difficult it was. The world was cruel if you had no one to stand up for you”. 

A lot of the book is devoted to drawing sharp contrasts between her modern working class upbringing and her family’s previous working class lifestyle. It raises so many questions about how our predecessors would react to life today.

It is brutally honest but still funny at times and creates the perfect balance between a realistic, unapologetic narrative and one that shows the true personalities of those involved. Although there is hardship these characters are not defined by it and Sue still lets their humour and true nature show. 

The book has a conversational tone and has some nice visual components which helps the readers create a strong image in their heads. This makes reading it an immersive experience which elicits sympathy and care for these strong characters , who are now only remembered in this book. 

Blood and Coal can be bought as a paperback or on Kindle here.