Whitehaven Archives is hosting an author talk on the testimony of local character Sal Madge by John Little, on Tues 22 Nov at 7pm. FREE event, call 01946 506420 or email [email protected] to book your place.

Discover the story of Sal Madge, one of old Cumberland’s most colourful characters. She smoked a pipe, chewed tobacco and held down a job usually done by men. She was also able to hold her own in fights with men, either in Cumbrian wrestling or in pub brawls. She might have remained in folk memory as a mere curiosity, an eccentric or someone to be thought of as a local character. However in 1887 she did something so rash and brave that it took her into court and engraved her in local history as a working class heroine to be celebrated.

The novel The Testimony of Sal Madge is her story as imagined by author John Little, and heavily based on available evidence.