Penguin Modern Classics: Akenfield: Portrait of An English Village

Ronald Blythe, who was born and grew up in Suffolk, produced an instant classic in Akenfield. This colourful, perceptive portrayal of English country life reverberates with the voices of the village inhabitants, from the reminiscences of survivors of the Great War evoking days gone by, to the concerns of a younger generation of farm-workers and the fascinating personal recollections of, among others, the local schoolteacher, docter, blacksmith, saddler, district nurse and magistrate. Providing insights into farming, education, welfare, class, religion and death, Akenfield forms a unique document of a way of life that has, is many ways, disappeared.