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A Month in the Country

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A Month in the Country

By: J L Carr, Penelope Fitzgerald - introduction
Narrated by: Alex Jennings
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'One of the best books I've ever read' Richard Osman

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.


'Tender and elegant' Guardian

'Unlike anything else in modern English literature' Spectator

©1980 J L Carr (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 20th Century Classics Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Village Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking

Critic reviews

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
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
Tender and elegant
Unlike anything else in modern English Literature (D.J. Taylor)
Carr's blessedly small tale of lost love is also a small hymn about art and the compensating joy of the artist, both in giving and receiving. It stays with us, too, and is oddly haunting
Carr has the magic touch to re-enter the imagined past (Penelope Fitzgerald)
All stars
Most relevant
Some beautiful prose evoking peaceful rural life in Yorkshire (?) and the slow uncovering of some medieval art…that together heals a former soldier suffering from WWI. More could’ve been made of the love story I thought. Excellent narration. Just all so sad.

Melancholy story of longing set in 1920s rural England

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The book gently weaves the storyline, unveiling details about different characters along the way. Very much like the main character unveiled his painting. This is a gentle story with nudges toward horrendous trauma in their past. It is a story beautifully written and gorgeous to read but extremely sad. Don’t let that put you off though because I am so pleased I have read it. And would highly recommend.

A beautiful gentle but sad story

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A simple, yet beautiful story! The language and description style shapes this masterpiece and brings the listener back in time

Reflective listen

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The sweet pain of nostalgia. The author captures the essence of a magical time and a place. I listened to this in my garden over the course of a sunny spring day. I was transported there with them and did not want to leave.

Poignant

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A beautiful meditation on lost love and the after effects of war, superbly read. A classic.

Beautiful

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