The doomed Shropshire romance of literary great George Orwell
When Eric Blair came to Shropshire he was on a mission of love. He had a ring in his luggage and hope in his heart.
But the future George Orwell – writer of Animal Farm, 1984, and so on – was to be disappointed.
He was welcomed as an old friend at Ticklerton Court, near Church Stretton, but as the tea flowed and the cake was offered, he discovered the object of his affection, Jacintha Buddicom, was not there, and his hosts seemed keen to move the conversation on to other things.
The scene is included in a new short story called No Going Back by former Shropshire teacher Ann Kronbergs which uses fictional narrative but is about a real episode in Orwell's life.
No Going Back follows the young writer on his quest in 1927 to be reunited with Jacintha, whom he loved before he went away to Burma.
His restless search takes him from Southwold on the Suffolk coast, to Ticklerton Court, and it culminates in London.
Ann first came across the Orwell link to Ticklerton Court when she lived with her family in Church Stretton and worked as an English teacher in Shropshire secondary schools between 1996 and 2006, when the family moved to Brussels.
Ticklerton Court was home of Jacintha's paternal grandfather, and the Buddicom children would often visit for holidays and breaks, with Eric joining them on many occasions shooting, fishing, and generally enjoying the Shropshire countryside.
His last visit was in 1927, when he was there for a fortnight and, as in Ann's story, Jacintha was not there.
Afterwards Eric completely disappeared from the Buddicoms' lives, and they lost touch until February 1949 when Jacintha discovered that the Eric Blair she had known all those years ago was the famous author George Orwell.
They exchanged friendly letters, but Orwell was ill with TB, and she made no attempt to visit him. He died in January 1950.
Jacintha learned in later life that Ticklerton Court had been greatly altered and despite visiting Shropshire several times, she never had the heart to look at the house.
Ann started to research the early life of Eric Blair after she returned to Britain in 2014, settling in Suffolk, and found an often overlooked connection he had with Southwold.
Gradually the story took shape around the two locations based on known historical evidence as far as possible, but using fictional narrative to look at the young man’s motivation at this point of life crisis.
Ann says that this summer the story was well received at the Southwold Arts Festival where she delivered a talk on Becoming George Orwell and signed copies of No Going Back.
In Shropshire, No Going Back is currently on sale at Burway Books in Church Stretton.
