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1Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate

By Eliza P. Donner Houghton

The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. Although this aspect of the tragedy has become synonymous with the Donner Party in the popular imagination, it actually was a minor part of the episode. <br><br> The author was about 4 at the time. The first part of the book accounts the tragic journey and rescue attempts; the last half are reminiscences of the child orphan, passed from family to family while growing up. (Summary from Wikipedia & Tricia G)

Alan Jeffcote, son of Nat Hawthorn, Hindle's richest factory owner, meets Fanny Hawthorn, daughter of Nat's 'slasher' and oldest friend, in Blackpool and the two go off for what they believe to be secret fling in Llandudno. But after the death of Fanny's friend, Mary, in a pleasure boat accident at Blackpool the secret is revealed and the the two families are thrown into disarray.<br><br>The leading light of the so-called Manchester School of realist dramatists, Stanley Houghton wrote Hindle Wakes in 1911 and it was a hit both in Mrs. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre in Manchester and the Aldwych Theatre, London in the following year. Houghton's best known play, Hindle Wakes has been filmed five times, most recently in 1976 as a TV film starring Donald Pleasance. The play's title refers to the wakes week holiday in the fictional town of Hindle and is also a pun on the name of a traditional Lancashire chicken dish. (Summary by Phil Benson)