At only just over 100 pages long,
this novel is really an extended short story. It is set just after the First
World War and is about an ex-soldier who was wounded in the war. As part of his
recovery process, he is employed to travel to a village in the Yorkshire
countryside. His job is to chip away at the walls of the church to find a
hidden Medieval painting. In a way, this is a metaphor for him peeling away the
layers of mess in his life to find his old self. I loved the book. It is about
redemption and so is uplifting, but at the same time there is a sort of
nostalgic melancholy feel that has a part in English culture. I love both
aspects.
