A PLACE IN ENGLAND

by Melvyn Bragg ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1971

This novel, like others of Bragg's, takes place in a small West Cumbrian town and follows its characters through decades along the tracks laid for them by class, generation and geography. The doggedly devoted but finally unsatisfactory relationships center on Joseph Tallentire, who has always wanted something beyond his horizons -- freedom, a place of his own -- but ambition and opportunity never coincide. Instead it's making do as best he can, looking out for people who can never be talked to really, and taking compromise pleasures on the dog trails and in the pubs. By the time he's saved enough money to become a publican himself that's become a compromise too -- modest personal satisfactions, a better start for his boys (as his was better than his miner father's), and a way to handle the widening distance between himself and his wife. But the climax features a Teddy boy nephew who has broken sufficiently free to rob his trusting uncle. Feelings are ambiguous and underplayed, details unassertive, and the development as quietly persistent and self-denying as the protagonist. Such resignation is obviously not for everyone.

Pub Date: May 1, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION