THE LAND IN WINTER is an invitation to enter into the lives of two couples in rural Somerset in 1962 and to be immersed in their world — to walk alongside them, to share their routines and thoughts, to know their hopes and longings, to do life with them.
Andrew Miller is an experienced author. His gift for observing is profound and affecting. He truly sees his characters without judgement or excuse. Throughout the novel, his characters’ choices make sense because of what they are defined by and define themselves against, because of what has shaped them and who they have become.
Eric is a GP who has moved out to the countryside with his wife, Irene. Across the field is a farm that has recently been bought by Bill, who is married to Rita. Both Irene and Rita feel isolated in the unfamiliar countryside and are pregnant. None of them entirely belongs there: they have chosen a form of exile from the city which, they hope, will mark an escape and a new beginning.
The first half of the book explores their marriages and their world, poised between the global trauma of the Second World War and the threat and promise of the early ’60s. Then, Irene and Eric host a Boxing Day party that is a cinematic tour de force. Miller’s descriptions always feels natural and character-driven. The long scene is at once riotously amusing and deeply moving. As the party ends, the snow of the winter of 1962-63 comes and settles, and everything begins to change.
Immersive and beautiful, assured and humane, the book is unforgettable because of the honesty and understanding that Miller brings to every single one of his cast. For a few weeks, we step into their world, and then we step away again. Those few weeks are precious indeed.
The Revd Richard Lamey is Director of Mission and Ministry in the diocese of Norwich.
The Land in Winter
Andrew Miller
Hodder & Stoughton £10.99
(978-1-529-35430-0)
Church Times Bookshop £9.89
