Seldom Seen by Sarah Ridgard

Seldom Seen

Sarah Ridgard

In this assured debut, we see 1980’s rural Suffolk through the eyes of an angst-ridden teenager. Family feuds and long-buried secrets play out against the backdrop of a changing landscape. A convincing portrayal of life in a small village and a welcome departure from all the twee novels that uphold the rural idyll.




Extract
Village life wasn't meant to be like this. Where were the fêtes and the babies in bonnets, the village shops and the pubs buzzing with life? Where were all the animals that were meant to be out in the fields? The flower meadows and the kindly old women who snapped open the clasp on their purses to give children a ten pence piece to buy penny chews at the shop? And, good question, where was the shop?
Parallels
  • God's Own Country by Ross Raisin
  • According to Ruth by Jane Feaver