A Month in the Country

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.

• A Month in the Country traces the slow revival of the primeval rhythms of life, disoriented by the Great War.
• Includes an introduction by Penelope Fitzgerald.