Author set to launch new novel set in Hartlepool at National Museum of the Royal Navy

Eliza Mood with a copy of her novel, O Man of Clay.Eliza Mood with a copy of her novel, O Man of Clay.
Eliza Mood with a copy of her novel, O Man of Clay.
A launch event for a climate change novel set in Hartlepool will take place in the town later this month.

O Man of Clay by Eliza Mood is set in a near future where sea-level rises have inundated cities, towns and villages around the globe.

A tsunami has wiped out the houses, shops and schools along the Hartlepool shore and authorities are walling in the flood zone.

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The ancient past and possible future collide with creationists, environmentalists, former prisoners, flood tourists and feral castaways in this survival story.

Explaining why she chose Hartlepool as the setting, Eliza said the town and the north bank of the Tees caught her imagination when, as a young teacher, she lived nearby.

She added: “Hartlepool began as an Anglo-Saxon monastery and later became a Medieval walled city. Nearby, iron and coalmines fed the British Empire, but its traditional industries – fishing, steel and magnesium processing – are, for the most part, gone.

“I’ve included lots of local names and places and I’ve referenced happenings and places now gone like ‘Palliser’ and the 'Wagga Moon'.”

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The launch event is at The National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool on Saturday, February 22, from 7.30pm. Entry is £6.50.

As well as a reading of passages from the book and a book stall run by O Man of Clay publisher Stairwell Books, there will be guest singers, musicians and the Redcar Sword Dancers as their dance features in a scene in the novel.

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