All Among the Barley

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Whether I am permitted to or not, I love the world which Melissa Harrison evokes, for all its inevitable shortcomings. I’m hoping this piece will qualify for Karen and Lizzy’s Reading Independent Publishers Month, which you can read about here.

A deeply atmospheric work, steeped in the rhythms and traditions of the English countryside and the rhythms and traditions of its literature.She adapted well and progressed from an urban dweller who worships country living from afar, to becoming part of it. The rhythms and rituals of farming are also beautifully portrayed, augmenting the novel’s captivating sense of time and place.

In All Among the Barley , Melissa Harrison has created a central character to rival Cassandra in I Capture the Castle . Harrison cleverly makes Connie attractive and only gradually allows the insinuating creep of her nasty ideologies to permeate the narrative.A novel which is intentionally disconcerting is never going to be wholly pleasing and there are numerous elements in All Among the Barley which I wince at and feel saddened by. For those of us, like myself, who have grown up in the countryside, it is not in the least bit disappointing that the hardships and drawbacks of a life lived on the land – especially in that era – be fairly portrayed and indeed, how can one truly appreciate light unless it is in the context of shades of dark? From the author of Costa-shortlisted and Baileys-longlisted At Hawthorn Time comes a major new novel. Edie is also conscious of mysterious powers and magical signs, and for much of the book we are not sure how much faith to put in her perceptions. In October, Wych Farm’s trees turned quickly and all at once, blazing into oranges and reds and burnished golds; with little wind to strip them the woods and spinneys lay on our land like treasure, the massy hedgerows filigreed with old-man’s-beard and enamelled with rosehips and black sloes.

The author here incorporates the rise of fascism in England, but in such a way that it actually has more to do with Brexit and topics of today. The wheat, too, was ripening: the stalks were still-blue-green, but the tops of the ears were fading to a greenish-yellow, a tint that would become richer and spread down the ears as they fattened to finally gild the stalks and leaves.At first, Ada Mather is suspicious of this stranger; however, she is soon won over by Constance’s willingness to listen and to modify her behaviour.