Cynan Jones - The Long Dry

One morning a Welsh farmer Gareth wakes up during a long, hot, drought-ridden summer. He kisses his wife Kate and tells her he is off to find a pregnant cow that has gone missing. That is, essentially, all that happens. But as Gareth walks around the land we learn about the history, his family, his deep yearning for his wife and her fears about her attractiveness as she ages, their mutual delight in their daughter and her games. The care that farmers have for their animals - both those destined to be meat at someone's dinner table and those, like the dog, that live around the farm.

We also learn a great deal about farming life. This is a book written by someone who understands farming - not just the growing of crops or the husbandry of animals, but also the historical struggles, the poverty, the mental illnesses and, the constant worries about money. Gareth and Kate's eldest son exemplifies the contradictions - he's pulled by the excitement of the town, the nightclubs and prospects of a better life, but he also likes and, Gareth hopes, might come to love the farm itself. The loss of animals, financial worries and concerns for the land are one thing, but worse is to come. Its a delightful book - with a dark and savage twist. In barely 100 pages Cynan Jones covers a lot of ground - including discussions on the threat of ducks, and what goes through the mind of a cow that's lost as well as a moving moment when two small boys encounter a rabbit dying of myxomatosis - something lost on Gareth when he finds the tiny body. Nature is everywhere, part and parcel of the farm and life, changing, growing and threatening. This is one to look out for.