Richard Jefferies

Amaryllis at the Fair Richard Jefferies

Amaryllis at the Fair (first published in 1887) portrays the highs and lows of everyday life on a small, debt-ridden family farm. At Coombe Oaks, Farmer Iden is out in all weathers, planting and sowing; his wife is in the dairy or staving off creditors; and their sensitive, artistic daughter, Amaryllis, is watching it all and praying for salvation. With a host of expertly-drawn minor characters, including miserly Grandfather Iden, loyal George the labourer and dissolute landowner's son Raleigh Pamment, Jefferies gives a rounded picture of a rural community - and in the noble Iden paints a fond portrait of his own farmer father...