How Lucky we are to Be Here

Forelsket, by Nick Goring, a story told through photography

Do you share that dream of rather than broken toasters and cracked baubles in the loft, you stumble across a dusty old book that reveals a hundred year old story which enabled your very existence? This happened to my fabulously talented, photographer friend, Nick Goring, and his first book of photography, Forelsket, resulted from this finding.

The story behind Forelsket is one of love and circumstance, pain and healing, as well as the good fortune of the stars to collide so that we are here at all, so I stole it for Nice News. Here’s the short version, and details of how to purchase Forelsket follow below.

In early 2020 Nick Goring found a dusty old book whilst clearing out his dad’s loft. 

He opened it. On the first page, in faded ink, there was note from the author to his fiancé.  It would lead to the uncovering of a love story that reverberates a hundred years later.

In 1924, Cecily Nash, aged 17, met Christopher Marlowe, a 28-year-old aspiring author.  They fell in love. He proposed.  She accepted. The following year he published his debut book, The Fen Country. 

The couple had met whilst he was touring East Anglia researching and writing the book.  He’d not long graduated from Cambridge, returning to university having served four years on the Western Front during the First World War.

Alongside the book were letters and poems written by Christopher to Cecily whilst they were courting.  Reading them it was clear that Christopher’s love was more than infatuation.  He was desperate to find the very best of the human condition after experiencing the very worst. Despite being broken he slowly found solace through his fiancé’s love, and time spent cycling across the landscape of the Fens.

Nick is a documentary photographer and saw the opportunity to tell a love story uniquely with pictures.  So shortly before the pandemic hit the UK he set off, with the book as his map, to capture the landscape and sights that Christopher Marlowe had written about.  Above all he wanted to depict Christopher’s quest to find love in life whilst visualising the impact the war had had on him.

But like all good stories there’s a twist.

In 1926, two years after meeting, Cecily called off the engagement. 

Shortly after, Christopher wrote to Cecily’s mother saying that despite the breakup he was so very grateful to have been loved by Cecily.  Both would marry others in 1928 and a year later Cecily would have her only child.

That child was Nick’s Goring’s mother.

The story has become more than a retelling of a forgotten love affair. It’s one that we can perhaps all relate to, about the power of love. One that shows how our lives are interwoven with the decisions of the past. 

And ultimately, one that reminds us how lucky we are to be here at all. 

Forelsket, this beautiful story told through photography, is available to purchase, here.

Following a 25-year career in advertising, Nick Goring returned to university in 2018 to gain a formal photographic education and avoid the regret of never pursuing a passion he’d had since he was young.  Now immersed in photography, Nick has won awards, been published and has exhibited internationally. His new book ‘Forelsket’ is now available here.