Amy and Lan

Amy and Lan's parents have thrown in their urban lives - and are running a (seemingly) idyllic smallholding in the West Country - scything their own hay, slaughtering their own turkeys (named Vita and Virginia), even starting their own blog Exit, Pursued By a Goat. Amy and Lan and the other children adore their freedoms and the animals they get to tend (including a calf in their kitchen!) plus the various human waifs and strays that their parents bring into Frith Farm.

Told as the seasonal calendar turns, the novel has a magical, Edenic quality as seen through the eyes of the two kids. But the adult characters, whom we also grow to love, start to behave increasingly badly, and the balance of the community is thrown. From early on, it is clear to the reader that paradise will soon be lost, but the fact that Amy and Lan don't realise what is happening only adds to the heartbreaking denouement...