The Potter's Hand

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As I was visiting my friend Jo in Stoke over New Year I decided to find out more about this city.  I realised I didn't have a clue about the life of WEdgewood and the potters of Staffordshire.  I got this book because I thought I would get a good story about this interesting time in the 18th century when people like Wedgewood were taking England into the industrial revolution. 

Unfortunately I was disappointed. The story was like wading through treacle.  All the characters were really flat and dull and when I read a novel I want a good story first.  Unfortunately A N Wilson didn't agree with this idea so this book was just a ploy to bang your head against the history wall. It really didn't work. It was just too much. Stories from Burslem in Stoke, mixed with tales of Catherine  the Great in Russia, who wanted Wedgewood to make her a massive tea service, all running alongside Wedgewood's nephew in the United States trying to get white clay from the Cherokee Indians and unfortunately getting caught up in the War of Independence and falling in love with an Indian woman.  It was just too much and didn't work because the characters were just too weak.    Honestly, Wilson should have just written a pure history book like all of his other ones, it would have been more successful.  Infact I got so annoyed by this ' book' I sped read the last half on the train to Reading and then wished I could have left it behind, but unfortunately it's a library book and I have to take it back.