Jim Crace has written a dozen diverse novels infused with rich language and character particular to whatever story he is telling, whether it takes place in a Bronze Age village or on an imaginary continent. In Harvest, Crace is working at the top of his craft as he shows us the unraveling of a traditional English tenant farm.
Harvest is narrated by Walter Thirsk, a city man who came to the remote village 12 years before as a servant to Master Kent, but chose to join the villagers in the barley fields. Kent is a widower, so, under English law, the rights to the estate will now pass to his wife's brother from the city. Thirsk is a thoughtful, observant narrator who is both a part of the village yet also, always, an outsider. He struggles with the loss of his wife and the impending loss of the farm's paternalistic master.
When a surveyor arrives on behalf of the new master to map the estate and draw up a proposal to "fence and quickthorn all the land and turn everything... into gallant sheep country," Thirsk sees no way to avoid the impending changes. Itinerants set up camp in the "wasted woods" the same day that a fire destroys the master's barn, and the tenants' fears turn them violent.
With Thirsk as our witness, we watch a way of life dismantle before our eyes. Crace's imaginary world is as powerfully engrossing as anything the real world throws our way. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.