# A Month in the Country

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/jl-carr/a-month-in-the-country/9780241820223

![A Month in the Country](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/jl-carr/a-month-in-the-country_978-02-4182-022-3.jpg?v=2026-04-25%2012%3A21%3A52)

- Book: [A Month in the Country](https://www.bookquiver.com/jl-carr/a-month-in-the-country) ([A Month in the Country.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/jl-carr/a-month-in-the-country.md))
- Authors: [J.L. Carr](https://www.bookquiver.com/jl-carr)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-02-4182-022-3
- Pages: 160
- Published: 2026-07-30
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Hardcover

## Description

A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the quiet 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 he experiences a sense of renewal and belief in the future. Now an old man, Birkin looks back on the 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. Adapted into a 1987 film starring Colin Firth, Natasha Richardson and Kenneth Branagh, A Month in the Country traces the slow revival of the primeval rhythms of life so cruelly disorientated by the Great War.