Book Review of Amy and Lan by Sadie Jones

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The fullness of a rural childhood

This a beautiful book, in the sense that the author shows us beauty even in the hardships, disappointments and tragedies of growing up on a shared farm in the English/Welsh borders.

Having three and a bit families together on a single isolated property requires a fair amount of self-discipline if it is to be completely successful and some of the adults in this story lack that. One of the messages of this book is that if you go to live beyond the ken of the authorities and most social conventions, and you lack self-discipline, there’s a pretty good chance that you will betray those who love you and thereby betray yourself. But the greater message is that setbacks, failure and even betrayal only mean that there’s more of the story still to come. Perhaps we should be careful about seeking the modern must-have goal of “fulfillment”, because fulfillment tends to be the end of the story!

The children in this story change as they grow up, whilst remaining true to themselves and loyal to those, animals and landscape as well as humans, that they love.

Amy and Lan by Sadie Jones is published in the UK by Random House on the 7^th of July 2022