Author:Andrew Miller
Published: 2024
Pages: 384
Prize: Shortlist, Man Booker 2025
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In December 1962, in rural West Country, a desperate young man prepares to take sleeping pills in an abandoned asylum. Nearby, two couples begin their day: Dr. Eric Parry hides secrets as his pregnant wife sleeps, while troubled Rita Simmons dreams of her past in a cold farmhouse. Her husband, struggling to rebuild his life through their failing dairy farm, works tirelessly, his hopes fading.
Complexity
CEFR: B2/C1
Plot Complexity: moderate
Language Complexity: moderate
Ideas Complexity: moderate
Blurb
December 1962, the West Country.
In the darkness of an old asylum, a young man unscrews the lid from a bottle of sleeping pills.
In the nearby village, two couples begin their day. Local doctor, Eric Parry, mulling secrets, sets out on his rounds, while his pregnant wife sleeps on in the warmth of their cottage.
Across the field, in a farmhouse impossible to heat, funny, troubled Rita Simmons is also asleep, her head full of images of a past life her husband prefers to ignore. He’s been up for hours, tending to the needs of the small dairy farm he bought, a place where he hoped to create a new version of himself, a project that’s already faltering.
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