Three children under the age of ten are left in the care of their elderly grandparents in the north of Ceylon. What was an unfortunate necessity transpires to be the making of them. They are last to experience a traditional way of life that was centuries old, before the onslaught of civil war changed everything forever. Their father was one of the many doctors who migrated to the United Kingdom in the sixties and seventies - with ?3 in his pocket. They followed in his footsteps and between them served the NHS for over one hundred years. This true story explores the love of country and family; a tale of betrayal, migration and above all human resilience.

In this, the first biography to be published of Anthony Chenevix-Trench, Mark Peel tells the story of th e headmaster whose idiosyncratic style of leadership failed him in the most important challenge of his career. '

In this series a contemporary poet selects and introduces another poet of a different generation whom they have particularly admired. This selection of A.E. Housman poems are selected by Alan Hollinghurst.

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and Nominated for the 2017 PEN/Bograd Weld Prize for Biography A captivating exploration of A. E. Housman and the influence of his particular brand of Englishness A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad made little impression when it was first published in 1896 but has since become one of the best-loved volumes of poetry in the English language. Its evocation of the English coun - tryside, thwarted love, and a yearning for things lost is as potent today as it was more than a century ago, and the book has never been out of print. In Housman Country, Peter Parker explores the lives of A. E. Housman and his most famous book, and in doing so shows how A Shropshire Lad has permeated English life and culture since its publication. The poems were taken to war by soldiers who wanted to carry England in their pockets, were adapted by composers trying to create a new kind of English music, and have influ - enced poetry, fiction, music, and drama right up to the present day. Everyone has a personal “land of lost content” with “blue remembered hills,” and Housman has been a tangible and far-reaching presence in a startling range of work, from the war poets and Ralph Vaughan Williams to Inspector Morse and Morrissey. Housman Country is a vivid exploration of England and Englishness, in which Parker maps out terrain that is as historical and emotional as it is topographical.