A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the village church of Oxgodby where he is to spend the summer uncovering a huge medieval wall-painting. Immersed in the peace and beauty of the countryside and the unchanging rhythms of village life Birkin experiences a sense of renewal and belief in the future. Now an old man, Tom looks back on that idyllic summer of 1920, remembering a vanished place of blissful calm, untouched by change, a precious moment he has carried with him through the disappointments of the years.
'Unlike anything else in modern English literature. Carr's world is as distinctive in its way as anything created by Ronald Firbank or Anthony Powell' D. J. Taylor, Spectator
