It's the first review of 2022 and I couldn't think of a more fitting title to start the year with!
Yesterday was publication day for Jane's Country Year by Malcolm Saville, which follows eleven year old Jane through a year in the countryside when she is sent to convalesce with her Aunt and Uncle following an illness. The book is grouped in to chapters by month and through Jane's letters to her parents we find out everything that she's discovering about nature and the world around her.
The book is set in the 1940s on a farm, and is entirely charming. When Jane arrives it is winter and she knows hardly anything about the natural world, but she soon makes friends with Mr Herrick the rector and his son Richard who know all sorts of things about nature and wildlife and so she starts to learn. While she's on the farm she also helps with various harvests and as a person who lives increasingly seasonally as I get older I really appreciated the microcosm of a life lived really in tune with the seasons that is portrayed in this book.
It's a quiet book, and is Handheld Press's first colour illustrated novel, with beautiful illustrations by Bernard Bowerman. I've taken my time with it just because it's worth savouring each creature and plant discovered, and each new experience that Jane has. Because the world of the farm and the countryside is so different to the one that she's used to at home, everything is new to her and is described in such detail and with such care that it's really easy to get swept up in paying really close attention to what's going on.
For me, this book had strong similarities in feeling, character and writing style to some of the Noel Streatfield books that I adored growing up, so this was pretty much always going to be a resounding endorsement!
If you're interested in nature, or looking to live a life more in tune with the natural world, then Jane's Country Year is definitely one to pick up.
Many thanks to Handheld Press for my gifted copy.
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