- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; First Edition edition (12 July 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 029785173X
- ISBN-13: 978-0297851738
- Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 1.4 x 0.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
255,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #57 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > United Kingdom > Regions > South West England > Gloucestershire
A Place In My Country: In Search Of The Rural Dream
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Product Description
Review
"affecting and inspiring memoir.....His elegiac account of relearning how to be an Englishman should be required reading for anyone who claims to know or love this country" (Melissa Katsoulis THE FINANCIAL TIMES )
"Funny, touching and ultimately very moving, this is a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England." (Clover Stroud THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
"One of "The Top Ten Summer Holiday Books You Must Own - On the verge of a nervous breakdown, former marketing boss Walthew bought a place in the country to love out his rural dream. Naturally, it wasnt quite as simple as that" (THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )
"A riveting read" (Leslie Geddes-Brown COUNTRY LIFE )
"The book is a fascinating snapshot. All of life is here - birth, death, struggles with illness, hard work, lots of laughter. It will make you smile gently to yourself, laugh out loud, shed a quiet tear and feel angry at the changes happening in our countryside." (NFU COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE )
'"The writing had me close to tears...one of the most rewarding books that I've read for quite a while." (THEBOOKBAG.CO.UK )
"An entertaining memoir of life in Gloucecestershire.....A beautifully written book which has something to amuse or enlighten on almost every page." (Chris Gray OXFORD TIMES )
"A tale of moving to the country that even those who actually live and work there might enjoy" (THE SHOOTING TIMES )
"Compelling and often deeply moving...Walthew has a genuine gift for bringing both people and places to life and marshals his runaway real life narratives with a novelist's skill." (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall )
'a revealing and sometimes painful account of life in 21st century English countryside.....it is beautifully written and very moving.' (Fergus Collins COUNTRYFILE )
"Funny, touching and ultimately very moving, this is a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England." (Clover Stroud THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
"One of "The Top Ten Summer Holiday Books You Must Own - On the verge of a nervous breakdown, former marketing boss Walthew bought a place in the country to love out his rural dream. Naturally, it wasnt quite as simple as that" (THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )
"A riveting read" (Leslie Geddes-Brown COUNTRY LIFE )
"The book is a fascinating snapshot. All of life is here - birth, death, struggles with illness, hard work, lots of laughter. It will make you smile gently to yourself, laugh out loud, shed a quiet tear and feel angry at the changes happening in our countryside." (NFU COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE )
'"The writing had me close to tears...one of the most rewarding books that I've read for quite a while." (THEBOOKBAG.CO.UK )
"An entertaining memoir of life in Gloucecestershire.....A beautifully written book which has something to amuse or enlighten on almost every page." (Chris Gray OXFORD TIMES )
"A tale of moving to the country that even those who actually live and work there might enjoy" (THE SHOOTING TIMES )
"Compelling and often deeply moving...Walthew has a genuine gift for bringing both people and places to life and marshals his runaway real life narratives with a novelist's skill." (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall )
'a revealing and sometimes painful account of life in 21st century English countryside.....it is beautifully written and very moving.' (Fergus Collins COUNTRYFILE )
Clover Stroud, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
"Funny, touching and ultimately very moving, this is a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As much as I am a lover of the countryside, when I first picked up "A Place In My Country," I wondered how well I (an urban dwelling, non-British person) would relate to what appeared to be the day-to-day observations of living in a corner of rural England. Before reading this book, I found the Cotswolds a picturesque patchwork (when the sun shines) worthy of a thousand paintings with charming little stone buildings that would make nice film sets, a short getaway for adults in need of a little R&R. By the time I finished, I found myself identifying with the characters, the authors experiences, and the more general problems of the village inhabitants who find themselves priced out of homeownership and even rented housing in the place they have called home all their life. I came away with a deeper understanding and empathy for the struggles of those who work and make a living from the land of this beautiful countryside. In this sense, the book has a universal appeal and relevance.
As a lover of the genre of books about people who have picked up to live in lands foreign to them, I was also curious about what happens when one goes back to ones home country (as the author does) after being gone so long. I must admit that I have lived outside my home country for over ten years and am yet to move back, if ever. But even those who have left their hometown, if not their country, and returned years later could identify with the author's alienation and then reconciliation with the ghost version of ourselves that still live there.
Personally I would have liked the author to write more openly of the death of his father and brother earlier in the book. It was alluded to in quick, fleeting, and somewhat obscure ways early on, and very little is revealed until much further on in the book, yet it is an important piece of the story. But observing the author's reinvention of himself and transformation from high flying international marketing director to writer, organizer of informal shoots, and father more than makes up for that.
This book is a "must read." I laughed, I cried, I wanted to know all the characters; I wanted to be able to walk to the local pub and share a beer with them. The humour is dry and subtle. The author's descriptions of the countryside around his cottage are sensitive and anyone who loves and daydreams of pastoral landscapes would enjoy this book. Best of all, if you have ever dreamed of chucking your job to do something you really want to do, even if you don't know what that is, this is a book for you!
As a lover of the genre of books about people who have picked up to live in lands foreign to them, I was also curious about what happens when one goes back to ones home country (as the author does) after being gone so long. I must admit that I have lived outside my home country for over ten years and am yet to move back, if ever. But even those who have left their hometown, if not their country, and returned years later could identify with the author's alienation and then reconciliation with the ghost version of ourselves that still live there.
Personally I would have liked the author to write more openly of the death of his father and brother earlier in the book. It was alluded to in quick, fleeting, and somewhat obscure ways early on, and very little is revealed until much further on in the book, yet it is an important piece of the story. But observing the author's reinvention of himself and transformation from high flying international marketing director to writer, organizer of informal shoots, and father more than makes up for that.
This book is a "must read." I laughed, I cried, I wanted to know all the characters; I wanted to be able to walk to the local pub and share a beer with them. The humour is dry and subtle. The author's descriptions of the countryside around his cottage are sensitive and anyone who loves and daydreams of pastoral landscapes would enjoy this book. Best of all, if you have ever dreamed of chucking your job to do something you really want to do, even if you don't know what that is, this is a book for you!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have been reading about the British countryside all my life but this is the first post-modern take on a national asset so routinely taken for granted. Author Ian Walthew takes a 12-inch plough to the cozy, complacency that so many apply to the subject and reveals that 21st century rural life is not a place for the genteel - in a corner of Gloucestershire most commonly viewed by outsiders from their 4x4s as they hurry to overpriced weekend retreats, he finds a farming heartbeat that is proud and defiant, defended by a cast of characters that outshine The Archers. A revelation of a book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book a beautiful image of the romance of the Cottswold countryside- its village pub, local farmer, dry stone walls etc- set against the reality of its' slow but inevitable death as a working place for the small farmer. Ian's language is wonderfully descriptive, charming, very funny, and sometimes brutally stark and made me care deeply about those involved, including, of course, the central character- Ian himself. Can't wait to visit the Cottswolds, or to read the next book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tensions and Joys of English Country Living
I have just finished reading "A Place in my Country" and was very impressed by it. It is terrific. I was in tears some of the time (the death of the dog and the Nativity in the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Christine296
The Rural Idyll
When I mentioned to a friend in the U.K. that my Australian wife and I would be selling our house in Sydney and moving to the U.K. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr Martin J Pooley
Fantastic
This is a book that really needs to be read. I emailed the author, Ian, shortly after finishing it with the below text, I think you'll get the picture:
I just wanted to... Read more
I just wanted to... Read more
Published 3 months ago by MattPettitt
Loved every single page
I recently purchased a house in the Cotswolds. I would be a weekender to many of the characters in this book. Read more
Published 3 months ago by G44
If Your Job is Destroying You
If you have ever worked in a job that is slowly (or quickly) destroying you, then you will resonate to Ian Walthew's account of what he did about it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by T. E. Fevin
Painful and accurate
Living in this are of the Cotswolds, it was enjoyable attempting to match up the fictional people and places with the real ones. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Hamlet's ghost
Poignant and Funny
This is a highly enjoyable book. It is the true story of the author and his wife living in the English countryside (the Cotswolds) for two years, not as weekenders but as members... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Stuart Farr
In the end lacking some substance
I didn't feel that I got a great deal out of this in the end. I think perhaps it is a book for townies, people who don't really get out of the urban landscape that often, and to... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Eric Ambleside
Beautiful & deeply insightful account into the demise of rural...
As we are travelling from Australia to the UK this June for three wonderful months of exploration, I wanted some literature to read relating to the scenic and historical delights... Read more
Published 14 months ago by ShaniCat
Outstanding telling of one mans challenge that reflects the state of...
I was drawn to A Place in My Country for a variety of reasons. I'm from the country myself, indeed I was born and brought up not far from where the events in this book take place,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Andy
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