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A Month in the Country

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A Month in the Country

By: J L Carr
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

©2024 J L Carr (P)2024 Penguin Audio
Classics Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Village
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What listeners say about A Month in the Country

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  • Overall
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Art & archaeology colide

Beautifully written with beautifully drawn characters. Best read in the month of August, same month as when the story unfolds.

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A wonderful atmospheric story read superbly.

This must rank as one of my all time favourite audiobooks. A superb telling of a young man recovering in the Yorkshire countryside after the horrors of WW1. Alex Jennings is the perfect narrator of this lovely gentle story.

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Style and substance

I listened prior to reading the book for both my Dr Zhivago literature course and a creative writing one. Alex Jennings is a great narrator and sets the right tone plus the voices are just perfect. An excellent example of how to write a novella.

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Tremendously well written

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Far more than I think I expected to. Wholeheartedly recommended. Worth every minute.

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Beautiful story

Quietly heart breaking in places and beautifully narrated too. Great sense of character and reflection

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    3 out of 5 stars

Melancholy story of longing set in 1920s rural England

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.

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Beautiful

Really enjoyable listen. Beautifully poetic and wonderfully read. A gentle story about nostalgia and regret for moments of inaction in a long, lost summer. Great…

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Beautiful

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

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Pure escapism

Catapulted into an idyllic English summer after the great war. A simple story that unreeled so much more in its quiet telling. Sensitive narration by an excellent Alex Jennings. This, for me, was the perfect book, a classic, a favourite.

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Beautiful description

So beautifully described, I felt I was actually there, and I felt all the emotions.

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