SQUARING the FAMILY CIRCLE

About the Book

SQUARING THE FAMILY CIRCLE tells the story of two families: one with roots in North Wales, and the other whose generations had continuously occupied a farm in Yorkshire from 1579 (a date halfway through the reign of Elizabeth I of England) until the early years of the twentieth century. By tracing family fortunes across generations the author weaves together elements of adversity and struggle with the joys and sorrows that make up daily life, and chronicles a variety of tales with detailed imagery. He has not closed his eyes to the threat of poverty, the stigma borne by unwed mothers, conditions in the workhouse, and the travails of the working poor. At the same time he matches daily struggles of the working class with the warmth of family ties and events that result from happenstance or character. Fruitful use of imagination has enabled him to commune with his forebears and to gain an intimacy with their life and times.

About the Author

William Summerscales was born in Silsden, a town among the moors of Yorkshire, England. He came to Canada with the family at age five, and attended elementary and secondary schools in Hamilton, Ontario. He received the B.A. from Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, the M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto, the M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the Ph.D. from Columbia University in the City of New York, where he remained as a member of the faculty. Now retired, he lives in Princeton, New Jersey with his wife, Elpida.