Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104649 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
affecting and inspiring memoir.....His elegiac account of relearning how to be an Englishman should be required reading for anyone who claims to know or love this country" --Melissa Katsoulis, THE FINANCIAL TIMES

One of The Top Ten Summer Holiday Books You Must Own - On the verge of a nervous breakdown, former marketing boss Walthew bought a place in the country to live out his rural dream. Naturally, it wasnt quite as simple as that" --The Mail on Sunday

The writing had me close to tears...one of the most rewarding books that I've read for quite a while. --thebookbag.co.uk

"[Walthew's] beautifully written book is an elegy for an England that is dying" (Max Davidson DAILY TELEGRAPH )

"Avoiding the usual bland elegy for the rustic and redemptive, his book is a valuable memoir, both personal and social, a meditation on belonging in one of many Englands." (OBSERVER )

"a hard-edged and moving account of life in rural Britain today" (SUNDAY TIMES )

"Compelling and often deeply moving...Walthew has a genuine gift for bringing both people and places to life and marshals his runaway real life narratives with a novelist's skill." (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall )

"I read A Place in My Country with absolute unalloyed delight. A glorious book." (Jeremy Irons )

"he finds a farming heartbeat that is proud and defiant, defended by a cast of characters that outshine The Archers. A revelation of a book" (Tim Butcher, author Blood River )

"affecting and inspiring memoir...required reading for anyone who claims to know or love this country" (FINANCIAL TIMES )

"Funny, touching and ultimately very moving, this is a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England." (Clover Stroud SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

"a riveting read" (COUNTRY LIFE )

"The book is a fascinating snapshot. All of life is here - birth, death, struggles with illness, hard work, lots of laughter. It will make you smile gently to yourself, laugh out loud, shed a quiet tear and feel angry at the changes happening in our countryside." (NFU'S COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE )

"This is a great book, if you like to have your misconceptions about our land thoroughly challenged." (BBC COUNTRYFILE MAGAZINE )

"Well written and well constructed, this is an enjoyable, funny, often poignant book, and one that will resonate with many New Zealanders." (CHRISTCHURCH PRESS ) --Christchurch Press

A haunting book: funny, poignant, sometimes angry and full of affection for beautifully realised characters. --Linda Herrick Arts & books editor, New Zealand Herald

Review
"[Walthew's] beautifully written book is an elegy for an England that is dying" (Max Davidson DAILY TELEGRAPH )

"Avoiding the usual bland elegy for the rustic and redemptive, his book is a valuable memoir, both personal and social, a meditation on belonging in one of many Englands." (OBSERVER )

"a hard-edged and moving account of life in rural Britain today" (SUNDAY TIMES )

"Compelling and often deeply moving...Walthew has a genuine gift for bringing both people and places to life and marshals his runaway real life narratives with a novelist's skill." (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall )

"I read A Place in My Country with absolute unalloyed delight. A glorious book." (Jeremy Irons )

"he finds a farming heartbeat that is proud and defiant, defended by a cast of characters that outshine The Archers. A revelation of a book" (Tim Butcher, author Blood River )

"affecting and inspiring memoir...required reading for anyone who claims to know or love this country" (FINANCIAL TIMES )

"Funny, touching and ultimately very moving, this is a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England." (Clover Stroud SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

"a riveting read" (COUNTRY LIFE )

"The book is a fascinating snapshot. All of life is here - birth, death, struggles with illness, hard work, lots of laughter. It will make you smile gently to yourself, laugh out loud, shed a quiet tear and feel angry at the changes happening in our countryside." (NFU'S COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE )

"This is a great book, if you like to have your misconceptions about our land thoroughly challenged." (BBC COUNTRYFILE MAGAZINE )

"Well written and well constructed, this is an enjoyable, funny, often poignant book, and one that will resonate with many New Zealanders." (CHRISTCHURCH PRESS )

Sunday Telegraph 2007
'Funny touching and ultimately very moving...a beautiful, unsentimental account of a personal loss that is reflected in the rapidly changing texture of life in rural England'

Customer Reviews

The universal search for our place in the world...
As much as I am a lover of the countryside, when I first picked up "A Place In My Country," I wondered how well I (an urban dwelling, non-British person) would relate to what appeared to be the day-to-day observations of living in a corner of rural England. Before reading this book, I found the Cotswolds a picturesque patchwork (when the sun shines) worthy of a thousand paintings with charming little stone buildings that would make nice film sets, a short getaway for adults in need of a little R&R. By the time I finished, I found myself identifying with the characters, the authors experiences, and the more general problems of the village inhabitants who find themselves priced out of homeownership and even rented housing in the place they have called home all their life. I came away with a deeper understanding and empathy for the struggles of those who work and make a living from the land of this beautiful countryside. In this sense, the book has a universal appeal and relevance.

As a lover of the genre of books about people who have picked up to live in lands foreign to them, I was also curious about what happens when one goes back to ones home country (as the author does) after being gone so long. I must admit that I have lived outside my home country for over ten years and am yet to move back, if ever. But even those who have left their hometown, if not their country, and returned years later could identify with the author's alienation and then reconciliation with the ghost version of ourselves that still live there.

Personally I would have liked the author to write more openly of the death of his father and brother earlier in the book. It was alluded to in quick, fleeting, and somewhat obscure ways early on, and very little is revealed until much further on in the book, yet it is an important piece of the story. But observing the author's reinvention of himself and transformation from high flying international marketing director to writer, organizer of informal shoots, and father more than makes up for that.

This book is a "must read." I laughed, I cried, I wanted to know all the characters; I wanted to be able to walk to the local pub and share a beer with them. The humour is dry and subtle. The author's descriptions of the countryside around his cottage are sensitive and anyone who loves and daydreams of pastoral landscapes would enjoy this book. Best of all, if you have ever dreamed of chucking your job to do something you really want to do, even if you don't know what that is, this is a book for you!

Refreshing Take on Rural Britain
I have been reading about the British countryside all my life but this is the first post-modern take on a national asset so routinely taken for granted. Author Ian Walthew takes a 12-inch plough to the cozy, complacency that so many apply to the subject and reveals that 21st century rural life is not a place for the genteel - in a corner of Gloucestershire most commonly viewed by outsiders from their 4x4s as they hurry to overpriced weekend retreats, he finds a farming heartbeat that is proud and defiant, defended by a cast of characters that outshine The Archers. A revelation of a book.

romance and realism
I found this book a beautiful image of the romance of the Cottswold countryside- its village pub, local farmer, dry stone walls etc- set against the reality of its' slow but inevitable death as a working place for the small farmer. Ian's language is wonderfully descriptive, charming, very funny, and sometimes brutally stark and made me care deeply about those involved, including, of course, the central character- Ian himself. Can't wait to visit the Cottswolds, or to read the next book!