The Great Level

A ‘magical, haunting’ (Philippa Gregory) novel of a tragic love affair in a threatened world In 1649, Jan Brunt, a Dutchman, arrives in England to work on draining and developing the Great Level, an expanse of marsh in the heart of the fen country. It is here he meets Eliza, whose love overturns his ordered vision and whose act of resistance forces him to see the world differently. Jan flees to the New World, where the spirit of avarice is raging and his skills as an engineer are prized. Then one spring morning a boy delivers a note that prompts him to remember the fens, and confront all that was lost there. ‘The most beautiful historical novel you’ll read all year... Extraordinary’ Simon Schama ‘Richly involving... The story of a strange and passionate relationship’ Guardian ‘If you want to be utterly transported to another time, another place, read The Great Level. A haunting depiction of love and difference’ Amanda Vickery

Much of eastern England is below sea level, resulting in wide swathes of marshland that are easily flooded. In the seventeenth century, the Bedford Level Corporation was set up by Francis Russell, fourth earl of Bedford, in order to manage the drainage of the Great Level of the Fens, which became known as the Bedford Level and is the largest region of fenland in eastern England. Between 1828 and 1830, Samuel Wells, the corporation's registrar, published his well-documented history of the Bedford Level and the attempts made at various points to clear it of water using a variety of methods, from earthworks raised by the Romans to the strategies of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden and the eventual introduction of steam-powered technology. Volume 1, published in 1830, contains a historical account of the area and of the commission set up to address the perennial problem of flooding.