All Among the Barley

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There are many areas of sadness in this book from the harsh words of Edie's father to the death of Edmund the corncrake but maybe the saddest of all was the incarceration of Edie into the mental institute, abandoned by her family. As an evocation of place and a lost way of life, Harrison’s novel is astonishing, as potent and irresistible as a magic spell. The hardness of the characters worlds as well as the peaceful landscape full of wildlife, are beautifully portrayed.

There’s all that laundry every Monday, and the chickens to care for as well as all the work to help bring in the harvest. The difficulty for me lies in this being a slow and at times a dull story as I waited for an event to happen.

She’s the object of a fair bit of unwelcome attention from Alf, a somewhat pushy boy from a neighbouring farm. Not every reader will enjoy All Along the Barley, but for those of us who are fascinated by the much slower pace of life of country people who lived much closer to natural realities, this is a very moving read. 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. There is plenty of foreshadowing a tragic denouement, and no absence of hints about Connie’s toxic effect on Edie and the neighbourhood.

Her older sister Mary has recently married and lives nearby (Edie struggling with the sudden break in their relationships) as do her mother’s parents (Granfer and her squint eyed and mysterious Grandmother). I loved the appearance of Edmund, the corncrake, a species which has been endangered due to the loss of habitat brought about by changes in farming methods. As Wendell Berry has said in his poetry, the entire language of traditional farming began to disappear with mechanization.The fate of those who were suspected of having some sort of psychotic episode as outlined by the author in her Historical Note would in my view be best served in a different story.