Under a Broad Sky - by Ronald Blythe (Hardcover)

About the Book

With reverence and love, Britain's most admired rural writer chronicles daily life in the Stour valley village, finding beauty and significance in its sheer ordinariness as well as in its many literary, artistic and historic associations.

Book Synopsis

With reverence and love, Britain's most admired rural writer chronicles daily life in the Stour valley village, finding beauty and significance in its sheer ordinariness as well as in its many literary, artistic and historic associations. The year takes its shape from the seasons of nature and the feasts and festivals of the Christian year. Each informs and illuminates the other in this loving celebration of nature's gifts and neighbourly friendship. Literature, poetry, spirituality and memory all merge to create an exquisite series of stories of our times. These delightful essays first appeared in the 'Word From Wormingford' column, a popular back page feature of the Church Times for some 20 years. It was praised as one of the finest journalistic columns by the Guardian in November 2012.

Review Quotes

'Tucked away on the back page of the Church Times each week is one of the most elegant and thoughtful columns in British journalism. Word from Wormingford mixes acute, elegiac rural observation with a strand of English mystical thinking that often seems to reach back to its 17th-century roots.'--The Guardian

"Although Blythe's style may be poetic, there is a conversational feel, drawing the reader deeper into the company of a wise, kindly uncle, imparting old truths and new insights."--Kate Horrix "Magnet"

"I have greatly enjoyed this latest collection of his musings...Delightful text."--Jeremy Harvey "The Reader"