All Among the Barley

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Beautiful review Jacqui, and I hadn’t actually heard of the book until you mentioned it to me – and am intrigued by comparisons with A Month in the Country. Well, I’m no anti-Semite, of course, but they’re not from here, and if we’re not careful they’ll mar the character of England forever – not to mention the way they undercut wages and take work away from ordinary people, just as the Irish did. It was certainly evocative of the time that our land was still an agricultural land for the most part but also showed that change was very much in the air and the harshness of war already casting a sadness on the population.

Melissa Harrison is the author of the novels Clay and At Hawthorn Time, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize, and one work of non-fiction, Rain, which was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize. While Connie may be keen to celebrate tradition, those around Edie are aware of the need for adaption and for balancing progress against tradition.Excerpts and links may be used, provided that the material is credited and referenced to JacquiWine’s Journal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. However, as the novel progresses we see that the wholesome vision that Connie presents to her readers does not reflect the real conditions experienced by the villagers and also how her writings and views could be used for more sinister purposes. Connie has an idealistic and patronising view of country people although she develops great affection, not only for Edie, but for her family and the wider community. WWI and its aftermath, especially the Great Depression (which was preceded by a precipitous agricultural downturn in the 1920s), combined with agricultural modernization to threaten the rural folkways that made rural England special.

Farming practices, wildlife and nature create a strong, vibrant picture in 'All Among the Barley' which really immersed me as a reader. In warning against right-wing excesses and the importance of accepting change, Melissa Harrison is potentially at risk of tripping up against her own self-evident love of the timeless English countryside and its long-held traditions. Though they don’t appear to be affiliated with one of the big conglomerates and declare themselves to be an independent publisher, they *are* a big outfit with lots of trustees etc! The wheat, too, was ripening: the stalks were still-blue-green, but the tops of the ears were fading to a greenish-yellow, a tint that would become richer and spread down the ears as they fattened to finally gild the stalks and leaves.Early in the novel, a local boy declares dismissively to Edie that “there’s nothing round here that people would want to read about in a book”. Yet all is not entirely well in rural paradise and readers hoping to sink into a misty-eyed vision of a bucolic idyll, populated by poor, hard-working but cheerful peasants, with not a care in the world, will repeatedly be offered a reality check – culminating in a dramatic ending which simply cannot be written about without spoiling the novel for those yet to read it. The farm is still largely run by horse power, and the book vividly describes both what has since been lost in the English landscape (for example Edith adopts an orphaned landrail or corncrake - these birds were very common then but are now almost extinct here) and the hardships endured by those that worked in it. She sees a “murky broth” of nationalism, “anti-Semitism, nativism, protectionism, anti-immigration sentiment, economic autarky .