Review by Booklist Review
Award-winning novelist Jones (The Snakes, 2019) begins her latest novel with a pair of children, seven-year-old Lachlan (Lan) and his companion Amy, who have lived their entire lives on a communal farm in southwestern England. Frith is a sanctuary to a parade of people, from the titular children and their families, to friends "from before," two rescued lost souls, and various renters in the farm's B & B. In alternating chapters, Amy and Lan share the workings of their idyllic farm life, infused with sights, sounds, and smells and filled with contented joy. They revel in their freedom to explore, the animals they raise, and their own fellowship. Over the next five years, the illusion begins to tarnish as the children notice new concerns: arguments about money, disagreements over parenting and farming methods, regrets about leaving the city, and fraying relationships. Dangers Amy and Lan once scoffed at now loom near and threaten their existence. Jones' skillfully rendered, character-driven coming-of-age work is a bittersweet delight for fans of Beryl Bainbridge and Elizabeth Gill.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Jones (The Outcast) offers a delightful story of life on an English farm co-op from the perspective of two children. Frith, the farm's name, is a sanctuary from city life for three families, the Honeys, Connells, and Hodges, plus a divorcée named Em and Finbar, who is bipolar. At seven, in 2005, friends Amy Connell and Lan Honey deal with the dilemma of eating Virginia, the turkey that had been raised for Christmas dinner. Amy's failed-actor father, Adam, emboldened by the growing popularity of his blog, Exit, Pursued by a Goat, starts pushing to open a bed and breakfast, despite resistance from the others. By 2008, Adam gets support from Lan's witchy mother, Gail, for the B&B venture. Gail shares with Adam an aversion to the dirty farm work, such as butchering the animals--Gail would rather focus on making potions for various ailments--thus heralding an end to the others' heretofore tranquility. An extramarital affair adds more tension to the farm, but in the eyes of the children, everything will turn out okay ("Dangerous things are always fine if you're clever like we are, and cool like us," narrates Lan). Jones does a solid job showing how Amy and Lan, despite their naivety, perceive the truth of the adults' conflicts. This is great fun. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
On a farm in southwest England presided over by three sets of parents, best friends Amy and Lan frolic with the other children, plus chickens, goats, dogs, and a calf named Gabriella Christmas. Theirs is a carefree, even wild childhood that's about to be disrupted by something stirring between Lan's mother and Amy's father. With a 25,000-copy first printing; check it out, as Jones's novels range from The Outcast, a Costa First Novel Award winner, to 2019's LJ-starred The Snakes.
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