
Return To Akenfield: Portrait Of An English Village In The 21st Century (Paperback)
Craig Taylor (author)
£9.99
Paperback
288 Pages
Published: 05/03/2007
Published: 05/03/2007
Ronald Blythe's 1969 book Akenfield - a moving portrait of English country life told in the voices of the farmers and villagers themselves - is a modern classic. In 2004, writer and reporter Craig Taylor returned to the village in Suffolk on which Akenfield was based. Over the course of several months, he sought out locals who had appeared in the original book to see how their lives had changed, he met newcomers to discuss their own views, and he interviewed Ronald Blythe himself, now in his eighties. Young farmers, retired orchardmen and Eastern European migrant workers talk about the nature of farming in an age of computerization and encroaching supermarkets; commuters, weekenders and retirees discuss the realities behind the rural idyll; and the local priest, teacher and more describe the daily pleasures and tribulations of village life. Together, they offer a panoramic and revealing portrait of rural English society at a time of great change.
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 9781862079236
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 193 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 16 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Gentle, subtle, absorbing ... the most complex and supple account of that much-discussed idea, "modern rural life", that I have ever read -- Robert Macfarlane, author of MOUNTAINS OF THE MIND and THE WILD PLACES
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