A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr

At the end of every meeting we vote for a new book to discuss for the meeting after next. It would be great if you could prepare your own suggestions to nominate on the night. This could be any kind of book e.g. novel, non-fiction, biography, but ideally it should be less than 400 pages long.

October's book:

A Month in the Country (J. L. Carr): A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the quiet village church of Oxgodby where he is to spend the summer uncovering a huge medieval wall-painting. Immersed in the peace and beauty of the countryside and the unchanging rhythms of village life he experiences a sense of renewal and belief in the future. Now an old man, Birkin looks back on the idyllic summer of 1920, remembering a vanished place of blissful calm, untouched by change, a precious moment he has carried with him through the disappointments of the years.

Adapted into a 1987 film starring Colin Firth, Natasha Richardson and Kenneth Branagh, A Month in the Country traces the slow revival of the primeval rhythms of life so cruelly disorientated by the Great War.

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We will be meeting again in November, when we will be discussing Kipps by H. G. Wells.