Greene Ferne Farm

One of Richard Jefferies’s earlier novels, this is a leisurely picture of farm life on the Wiltshire downs, built around the courtship of two young men for a farmer’s daughter and the seasonal rhythms of haymaking, harvest, and village talk. Jefferies cares less about intrigue than about the land itself: the great open hills, a sudden thunderstorm that catches walkers far from shelter, and the humor and superstition of dialect-speaking laborers and old countrymen who fill the pages. The result is a warm, closely observed evocation of rural England, shaped by the same naturalist’s eye that made his essays famous. Readers who love his nature writing will find the identical devotion at work here. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.