A Month in the Country
Will be published approx. on 30. July 2026
Book
Hardback
144 pages
978-0-241-82022-3 (ISBN)
Description
J. L. Carr's beautiful portrayal of the countryside and the healing it brings, in an irresistible Little Clothbound Classics edition designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith
'One of the best books I've ever read' Richard Osman
'Unlike anything else in modern English literature' D.J. Taylor, Spectator
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 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.
'One of the best books I've ever read' Richard Osman
'Unlike anything else in modern English literature' D.J. Taylor, Spectator
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 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.
Reviews / Votes
The book I keep coming back to, it's one of the best books I've ever read. I've never met anyone who didn't love it * Richard Osman * I wanted to write A Month in the Country in space - a brief, lovely homage to the natural world, pastoral writing about how deeply humans respond to our natural environments and the relationship between beauty and survival. In the end (I guess inevitably) the two books bore very little resemblance, but I don't think Orbital would exist without it * Samantha Harvey, author of Orbital * Unlike anything else in modern English Literature -- D.J. Taylor * Spectator *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 167 mm
Width: 114 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
500 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-82022-3 (9780241820223)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
J. L. Carr
A Month in the Country
E-Book
12/2011
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€8.99
Available for download
Persons
James Lloyd Carr, born 1912, attended the village school at Carlton Miniott in the North Riding and Castleford Secondary School. He died in Northamptonshire in 1994. His novel A Month in the Country won the Guardian Fiction Prize, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and made into a memorable film.