In J. L. Carr's deeply charged poetic novel, Tom Birkin, a veteran of the Great War and a broken marriage, arrives in the remote Yorkshire village of Oxgodby where he is to restore a recently discovered medieval mural in the local church. Living in the bell tower, surrounded by the resplendent countryside of high summer, and laboring each day to uncover an anonymous painter's depiction of the apocalypse, Birkin finds that he himself has been restored to a new, and hopeful, attachment to life. But summer ends, and with the work done, Birkin must leave. Now, long after, as he reflects on the passage of time and the power of art, he finds in his memories some consolation for all that has been lost.
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About the Author
J.L. Carr was born in Thirsk, Yorkshire, in 1912. For many years he was headmaster of a primary school in Kettering until he left in 1967 to set up a small publishing imprint called the Quince Tree Press and to write fiction - he published eight novels altogether including A Month in the Country (1980), which won the Guardian Fiction Prize, and The Battle of Pollock's Crossing (1985), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He died in 1994.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 81 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Birkin, the ageing narrator, reflects on the summer of 1920 when he - a young, shell-shocked and cuckolded survivor of World War One - spent some weeks in the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby. He is there, ostensibly, to uncover a lost medieval mural in the village church; a painstaking process of recovery. Yet while there, living and working in the church, he discovers treasures of far greater value in the people around him. He is shown anew the gifts of compassion and acceptance, of friendship and respect that he thought the Great War had blown away forever. Spanning one short, hazy English summer Carr has written a short, hazy English novel to treasure. Its ending comes, like that of the season itself, too soon and the reader is deprived of nothing less than the light of a sun. Magical and mournful, this novel's controlled simplicity numbs me each time I read it.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Helena
Format:Paperback
This book is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful I have ever read. It is deceptively simple and delightfully slow-paced, full of Lawrence-like depictions of a vanished pastoral landscape. The focal points are a casual and peculiar friendship between two war-scarred, shell-shocked men and just a barely discernible hint of a female love interest. In a book barely 100 pages long, the author not only manages to give us a story that flows like a stream, but also achieves stunning characterisation, bitter indictment of war and a corresponding celebration of peace, a little suspense, and even a twist in the tail. An exemplary study in subtlety.
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
By "nikidavies"
Format:Paperback
I have read and re-read this story so many times now that it is hard to know what to write. Suffice to say, this book is an exquisite recreation of a bittersweet summer which you read first as a perfect historical novel, re-read as an analysis of love and art and finally almost breathe in as a cobweb of love, pain, healing and rediscovery. If that makes it sound like new-age hippiedom then I misdescribe it. In its restrained beauty this book somehow captures the essence of what, even in these more jaded days, is unique about England. And I write that as an inhabitant of Wales. It is a wonderful tale.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pithy and beautiful
Short and not a word wasted. Deft description of the countryside from before industrialisation. A touch like Orwell in how much can be conveyed in so few words with a most delicate... Read more
Published 1 month ago by PK
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Month in the Country
Written in 1980 and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this is a deceptively gentle story. It is 1920 and the book begins with the arrival of Tom Birkin in the small community of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by S Riaz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful delicate book
A very gentle story of love found in a simple life, set in a glorious English summer. Almost like a meditation resulting in healing and being renewed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gorgeous eulogy for the perfect Summer
We can ask and ask but we can't have again what once seemed ours for ever - the way things looked, that church alone in the fields, a bed on a belfry floor, a remembered voice, the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by nigeyb
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful read
I loved the characters, and the descriptions of the characters shown in the carefully revealed wall painting. Read more
Published 2 months ago by wisbee
5.0 out of 5 stars
post-war poignancy
A wonderful book, full of a sense of longing for things lost. A man spends the Summer after WW1 revealing a medieval painting in a village church, gradually learning about himself... Read more
Published 2 months ago by joantaylorrowan
4.0 out of 5 stars
very touching
Gentle, quiet, memorable, touching. This is a superb book (more of a novella really). Not much happens, but then, life's like that isn't it?
Recommended.
Recommended.
Published 4 months ago by Fannybygaslight
5.0 out of 5 stars
Up to date
This old classic is right in today's mode. It's an excellent read and could be made into a play or film.
Published 4 months ago by Mrs E V Cooke
5.0 out of 5 stars
a complete read
I chose to read for a group discussion. It is one of the most satisfying,though-provoking books I,ve read in recent times, a story of recovery and moving on after hurt and loss,... Read more
Published 5 months ago by terry lempriere
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant book
I found this little gem via a biography of Michael Morpurgo, whose writer told us that Michael had loved a film of this story. Read more
Published 5 months ago by J Z O
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