A Son of the Rock

Penguin, 2000, 89 p, plus vii p Introduction by Penelope Fitzgerald and i p Foreword by the author. First published 1980.

In the aftermath of the Great War, Tom Birkin, a veteran with a facial twitch as a result of it, takes on the task of uncovering a mediæval mural from the wall of a church in the village of Oxgodby in Yorkshire. The first person narrative of this slim but well-formed volume is in the form of recollections by Birkin in his old age and relates his interactions with the family of the Wesleyan local station master, the vicar Rev Leach (not at all keen on the disturbance and the potential effect on his flock of a vibrant painting on the wall of his church,) Leach’s wife, and a fellow war veteran Mr Moon, an archæologist hired to try to find the tomb of a mediæval ancestor of the Miss Hebron who has funded both projects via a bequest. As he works on uncovering the mural and gets to know the locals Tom attains a kind of contentment.

A Month in the Country is no more than a novella but Carr packs a lot into it. Like Nan Shepherd’s, it is something of a quiet work, no pyrotechnics, no big issues addressed (except the aftermath of war.) It is also an addition to the literature of the ‘path not taken’.

Pedant’s corner:- As noted in the Introduction the local minister Arthur Leach is also referred to as Revd J G Leach – but Carr admitted to being a reckless proofreader. Elsewhere: mugsfull (mugsful?) a missing comma before a piece of direct speech, “‘Low, He comes with clouds descending.’” (Lo! He comes with…,) Mr moon (Mr Moon.)