Akenfield

Synopsis

Born and brought up in Suffolk, Ronald Blythe produced an instant classic with Akenfield. Only a man who had lived all his life in Suffolk could produce such a vivid and accurate portrayal of Akenfield and its inhabitants. Ronald Blythe recounts the personal recollections of, among others, the local school keeper, doctor, blacksmith, saddler, district nurse and magistrate as they discussed farming, education, welfare, class, religion and death. Originally published in 1969, 'Arkenfield' forms a unique document of a way of life that has, in many ways, disappeared. It reverberates with voices of survivors of the Great War evoking days gone by and reflects the concerns of a younger generation of farm workers during the second agricultural revolution - the land producing more but employing fewer men. It is a penetrating, unprejudiced, caring account of rural life, tapping into a variety of contemporary concerns about agriculture, the environment and the destruction of the traditional countryside.