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The Cinder Path
The Cinder Path is a 1978 novel by British author Catherine Cookson. In 1994, it was adapted into a film directed by Simon Langton.
In the English countryside of the early 20th century, the working-class protagonist must deal with a cruel and tyrannical father and later with a romantic tangle and a problematic marriage. He must keep, as well, a dark secret which must stay hidden at all costs.
Later, he is taken into the British Army fighting on the Western Front of the First World War, where the shadows of his past pursue him and lead to a climax.
Charlie MacFell is the sixteen-year-old son of Edward MacFell, a cruel farm owner who punishes the farm's children and teenagers by beating them on a sharp cinder path, causing their hands and knees to be grazed. Among MacFell's main targets is Ginger Slater, a workhouse boy whom he whips for stealing a book to try and learn to read. Only MacFell's daughter, Betty, appears to like MacFell and she believes she would run the farm better than her brother.
Both MacFell and his neighbour, gentleman farmer Hal Chapman, have plans to marry Charlie to Chapman's elder daughter Victoria in the hope of one day uniting both their farms. MacFell has been bedding big Polly Benton, the wife of a crippled former labourer, as payment for her family keeping their cottage and plans to use her teenage daughter, young Polly, to "experience" Charlie. Although attracted to her, Charlie intends to refuse. Polly's brother Arthur misunderstands, thinking MacFell plans to bed Polly himself, and tries to prevent it by setting up a rope that causes MacFell to fall from his horse, accidentally killing him. Charlie covers the matter up, making it look as though the fall was an accident. He inherits the farm and, in order to prevent his mother evicting the Bentons in revenge for MacFell's infidelity, takes over managing it himself. In the old man's will a third of his money goes to his wife and the rest to Charlie. Betty is distressed to find out she has been left nothing.
Slater, the only other witness to MacFell's death, uses the knowledge to put pressure on Charlie and Arthur and ultimately blackmails Polly into marrying him. When Charlie is nineteen, Victoria's younger sister Nellie gets him drunk at her own birthday party and persuades him to propose to her. They are interrupted by her father and Victoria. Hal is happy to announce the engagement at the party, not caring which daughter Charlie marries, but Charlie quickly backs out of the engagement after sobering up the next morning. He then agrees to marry the more experienced Victoria.
The marriage soon falls apart; Victoria leaves the farm on inheriting a house in Newcastle and takes a lover, spreading stories that Charlie is impotent and their marriage was never consummated, while Nellie inherits a house in Gateshead. With the First World War raging, Charlie tries and fails to convince Victoria to return when his mother is dying. Old Arnold is no longer able to work as well, leaving Betty to handle most things alone. Betty wants to marry her beau Robin Weatherby and bring him to the farm but Charlie considers Weatherby lazy and insists if they are married she will have to leave.
When conscription begins, the now twenty-four-year-old Charlie decides against declaring himself exempt and finds himself at a training camp with Slater as his sergeant, who takes delight in humiliating him in revenge for his father's actions. Back at the farm, now being run with the help of prisoners of war, Charlie agrees that Betty can marry Weatherby and bring him there, but if he returns from the war then they must move out. He also says she has worked hard, so, if that happens, she can have half the profits of the farm. If he dies, she will have all of it as he has written a will that excludes Victoria.
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The Cinder Path
The Cinder Path is a 1978 novel by British author Catherine Cookson. In 1994, it was adapted into a film directed by Simon Langton.
In the English countryside of the early 20th century, the working-class protagonist must deal with a cruel and tyrannical father and later with a romantic tangle and a problematic marriage. He must keep, as well, a dark secret which must stay hidden at all costs.
Later, he is taken into the British Army fighting on the Western Front of the First World War, where the shadows of his past pursue him and lead to a climax.
Charlie MacFell is the sixteen-year-old son of Edward MacFell, a cruel farm owner who punishes the farm's children and teenagers by beating them on a sharp cinder path, causing their hands and knees to be grazed. Among MacFell's main targets is Ginger Slater, a workhouse boy whom he whips for stealing a book to try and learn to read. Only MacFell's daughter, Betty, appears to like MacFell and she believes she would run the farm better than her brother.
Both MacFell and his neighbour, gentleman farmer Hal Chapman, have plans to marry Charlie to Chapman's elder daughter Victoria in the hope of one day uniting both their farms. MacFell has been bedding big Polly Benton, the wife of a crippled former labourer, as payment for her family keeping their cottage and plans to use her teenage daughter, young Polly, to "experience" Charlie. Although attracted to her, Charlie intends to refuse. Polly's brother Arthur misunderstands, thinking MacFell plans to bed Polly himself, and tries to prevent it by setting up a rope that causes MacFell to fall from his horse, accidentally killing him. Charlie covers the matter up, making it look as though the fall was an accident. He inherits the farm and, in order to prevent his mother evicting the Bentons in revenge for MacFell's infidelity, takes over managing it himself. In the old man's will a third of his money goes to his wife and the rest to Charlie. Betty is distressed to find out she has been left nothing.
Slater, the only other witness to MacFell's death, uses the knowledge to put pressure on Charlie and Arthur and ultimately blackmails Polly into marrying him. When Charlie is nineteen, Victoria's younger sister Nellie gets him drunk at her own birthday party and persuades him to propose to her. They are interrupted by her father and Victoria. Hal is happy to announce the engagement at the party, not caring which daughter Charlie marries, but Charlie quickly backs out of the engagement after sobering up the next morning. He then agrees to marry the more experienced Victoria.
The marriage soon falls apart; Victoria leaves the farm on inheriting a house in Newcastle and takes a lover, spreading stories that Charlie is impotent and their marriage was never consummated, while Nellie inherits a house in Gateshead. With the First World War raging, Charlie tries and fails to convince Victoria to return when his mother is dying. Old Arnold is no longer able to work as well, leaving Betty to handle most things alone. Betty wants to marry her beau Robin Weatherby and bring him to the farm but Charlie considers Weatherby lazy and insists if they are married she will have to leave.
When conscription begins, the now twenty-four-year-old Charlie decides against declaring himself exempt and finds himself at a training camp with Slater as his sergeant, who takes delight in humiliating him in revenge for his father's actions. Back at the farm, now being run with the help of prisoners of war, Charlie agrees that Betty can marry Weatherby and bring him there, but if he returns from the war then they must move out. He also says she has worked hard, so, if that happens, she can have half the profits of the farm. If he dies, she will have all of it as he has written a will that excludes Victoria.