The Village

Based on the BBC Radio 4 series of the same name, this book takes a "warts and all" look at rural England, tracing a year in the life of the small Hampshire village of Bentley. Its substance is the everyday lives of the local community, at the centre of which is the Holmes family of Glade Farm. Sara Holmes' battle with cancer is the culmination of a series of personal disasters which wreak havoc on an apparently peaceful and pastoral existence. Elsewhere in the village are the paranormal activities at 18th-century Jenkyn Place, the cowpat competition at the annual fete and characters such as Hilda and Margaret Evans (the Joyce Grenfells of the mountaineering world) and old Ma Cox (former confidante of Lord Montgomery). The author's other books include "How to Survive Commuting" and "Fatherhood: The Awful Truth".