One of the loveliest books I’ve read in the last few years is J. L. Carr’s short novel A Month in the Country. The book’s about a lot of things – and I may have written about it before on Eurogamer – but, broadly, the novel concerns a veteran of the first world war who turns up in a small village up north to uncover a piece of art that’s been concealed in the church. For a month he works in the church, restoring a lost mural element by careful element, having nightmares of the mud and gas at night and making tentative friendships during the day. Nothing happens and everything happens. At the end, he leaves and is – somehow – transformed by the experience.
