Amy and Lan: The enchanting new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Outcast

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Lan says that Amy never thinks that her mum ’might just go off one day’, which is a hint at what his mum has already done and so might do again. The adults are far too busy to keep an eye on them, and Amy and Lan would never tell them about climbing on the high barn roof, or what happened with the axe that time, any more than their parents would tell them the things they get up to. It was slow to start and most of the parents seemed ill equipped for leaving city life and being self sufficient whereas the children loved the freedom and adventure that resulted from their parents lack of supervision and care. Lan’s list of the best things ever was super- they were all things we would agree with, but forget in the hustle and bustle of adult life, like ‘rain on lettuces because they look like glass’ and ‘watching caterpillars chew. In alternating chapters, the children introduce us to their bold and adventurous selves — Lan’s axe experiment has luckily missed Amy’s toes — and describe the weather (frequently damp and cold), moods and personalities of the adults in charge of their bit of paradise.

If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. The adults are far too busy to keep an eye on Amy and Lan, and Amy and Lan would never tell them about climbing on the high barn roof, or what happened with the axe that time, any more than their parents would tell them the things they get up to - adult things, like betrayal - that threaten to bring the whole fragile idyll tumbling down. Their childhood could therefore be said to be idyllic in one sense although they are clearly lacking basic standards of physical care and emotional support from the adults. A story about the “real” Good Life through the eyes of Amy and Lan, and what initially apppears to be carefree childhood, where they are trying to understand changes in their lives, some as a consequence of life on a farm and the relationship with the animals and ‘town’ kids, and others as a consequence of the behaviour of the adults around them. I found some of the early chapters relied too heavily on exposition; the history of the families in Frith was necessary to understanding the dynamics of the characters but I felt it could’ve been explained in a less obvious way than ‘the story’ told by the adults.Initially I found it quite difficult to follow and without any direction, one chapter being written as ‘Lan’ , the next as ‘Amy’, which made it a bit more difficult to follow which parents/family belonged to which child, but it’s worth persevering with. I adored Finpbar’s character, although had a small part in the book, he obviously was being cared or by the Frith Community, and the book portrayed traditional community support values, which took me back to the village I grew up in - everyone knew everybody, but also helped each other out. This device did not work for me as their voices and perceptions were largely indistinguishable so it served no purpose.

It was not credible that the supposedly feisty Harriet would allow her husband and best friend to conduct an affair for five years without taking any action. This is a book for those who enjoy the reading journey, as opposed to those eager to make progress to the destination. This perspective was particularly effective when describing life on the farm – one could feel the joy of their innocent play and the sorrow of the loss of much-anticipated animals. It’s difficult to say if I had a favourite character, although Finbar was intriguing, but of course we didn’t get any background information because it was told through the eyes of the children. They have goats and chickens and grow their own hay; the children go to school but on the farm help out and roam free.It took me sometime to get into the flow of reading this book, perhaps the build-up of the story line was a bit slow for me! Amy and Lan speaks directly to the lockdown-generated belief that life is better surrounded by fields and sheep rather than dirty urban streets. Others will feel sorrow for insecure, neglected children who turn to each other for the emotional support that is so sadly lacking. It is not to be read as a comment on the viability of communal living – there being at least as much good as bad in Frith. I also felt the city outsiders that visited frith, disrespectful and ignorant of rural life, lacked depth and felt heavy-handed in their implementation.

Consequently Amy and Lan have minimal adult supervision and a great deal of freedom by modern standards, They roam throughout the surrounding countryside. I haven't read any other books by Sadie Jones but I had thought that they were previously packaged with a more mass-market angle whereas this book (and package) is literary and brilliant!

I was irritated by many of the adults who were so engrossed in their own lives that the children ran wild in dirty clothes and missing school. Both women were pregnant, both depressed by world news: “the greenhouse effect and battery chickens. The story of Frith and the families that reside is told through the childish eyes of its two leads; trying to comprehend and navigate the complex dramas of the adults on the farm.

If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Midway through the book, Lan lists things that make him happy about summer: “just normal small things, like wild strawberries, sipping honey off honeysuckles, the smell of small white flowers that grow up the wall at the back of the house, rain on lettuces, watching caterpillars chew. I did like the parts where Lan finds joy in small things, and when he explained that the past and present are real but not the future.When their families make the leap from city living to a farm in the West Country they have untold freedom. The only negative was the backwards and forwards between families - it was hard to tell who was who at times but I think that was the point. We get clues to what are the issues with the adults through their childish observations, which they patently do not understand. The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.