PRE-ORDER SIGNED
Published 04/04/2024
In Rural Hours, Harriet Baker tells the story of three very different women – Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Rosamond Lehmann – each of whom moved to the country and was forever changed by it.
For all three, rural life began with personal disruption: ill health, a lover, a divorce. Each was stricken with anxiety about her work. But, invigorated by new landscapes and daily rhythms, they began to heal: to embark on experiments in form, in feeling and in living; to discover sexual and political awakening; and, above all, to embrace freedom.
In graceful, fluid prose, Baker vividly recreates these overlooked episodes, revealing how ‘rural hours’ defined the lives of three pioneering writers. In the end, she shows, their example is an invitation to us all: to recognize the radical and creative potential of rural places, and find new enchantment in the rituals of each day.
