IN THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY

Bates, the author of THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY, writes about living in the English countryside between the wars. As you begin to listen to IN THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY, you may feel as if you’ve been cornered by someone who goes on (and on) about the weather. But stick with it. Perhaps the weather is worthy of your consideration, as are the plants, animals, and seasonal cycles of the Kentish countryside. H. E. Bates believed "we sometimes overlook the wonder of very obvious things." Martyn Read performs Bates’s narrative as I imagine the author would have: in a calm voice, without urgency, and with the conviction that the extraordinary is to be found in the commonplace. T.J.W. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 02]