Whitbread Award Winner: A novel by the author of In Patagonia, about
a pair of twins and their long, remarkable lives in the farmlands of
Wales.
For forty-two years, identical twins Lewis and Benjamin Jones have
shared a bed, a farm, and a life. But the world has scarred and warped
them each in different ways. Lewis is sturdy, still strong enough at
eighty to wield an ax all day, and though he's hardly ever ventured
outside his little village on the English border, he dreams of far-off
lands. Benjamin is gentler, a cook whose favorite task is delivering
baby lambs, and even in his old age, he remains devoted to the memory of
his mother.
The unusual twins have seen a country change and an empire fall, and in
their shared memory lies an epic story of the century that remade
Britain. From the stories of their father's youth to their own dotage,
there is nothing these farmers haven't seen--or heard.
Famed travel author Bruce Chatwin brings his unique understanding of
landscape and culture to his debut novel, an intense examination of a
little patch of Wales. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and
the Whitbread Literary Award, and written in the tradition of Wuthering
Heights and The Mayor of Casterbridge, this entry on the list of
"1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" is an all-time classic from
the author of bestsellers such as In Patagonia and The Songlines.
