Mal Peet

In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer in this tale that flashes back through the stories of three generations.

an exploded diagram

Life

Beatrix

Nostalgics believe that the past is nicer than the present. It isn’t. Or wasn’t. Nostalgics want to cuddle the past like a puppy. But the past has bloody teeth and bad breath. I look into its mouth like a sorrowing dentist.

…instead of being in History he was in love…

When the sound of it rolled down over us, we in the streets, the Spared, the Elect, began to shout obscenities and the various names of God.

Life quotes

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