A glass village - Chris Cohen

It's 1981, Maggie Thatcher's England, and a family from the city risk everything for a new life growing salads on an estate of smallholdings. Life is good, but everything in the garden isn't rosy. They soon find their neighbors are embroiled in conflict with the estate staff, and worse still, the young fields man allocated to help them is more interested in chasing women and plotting his own escape. A real problem since their only previous experience has been an allotment. It soon becomes clear the scheme is under threat, and desperate to keep their way of life, all the growers have a different take on how to survive. "A Glass Village" is about people, and a richly-woven tapestry of a unique way of life. The setting is unusual, but you don't have to be interested in gardening or like goats to love this book. Its appeal is much wider than that. It's about that yearning so many of us have for community spirit and a simpler life.