An Island in Time

The Biography of a Village

Geert Mak, Ann Kelland

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Paperback

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English

Vintage
15 September 2010

Biography; Social & cultural history; Rural communities; Sociology & anthropology

A fascinating account of the life and charming inhabitants of a typical countryside village, and how it must adapt and change in order to survive in the modern world.

In this book Geert Mak returns to the small Frisian village of his childhood, Jorwert (pop. 330 and falling). It's a typical European village where the shops are closing down, the few children left will escape to a less arduous life in the city and it's becoming increasingly isolated. Jowert has more in common with an English village than with Amsterdam, and it's moving story of neighbours and their efforts to preserve their long established way of life is relevant to the changing face of the countryside everywhere in Europe.

By: Geert Mak
Translated by: Ann Kelland
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 213g
ISBN: 9780099546863
ISBN 10: 0099546868
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 15 September 2010
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Geert Mak is a jounalist and historian, and one of Holland's bestselling writers; his prizewinning books include Amsterdam and In Europe. Translated by Ann Kelland.

Reviews for An Island in Time: The Biography of a Village

Eloquent * Guardian * Movingly relevant * Irish Times * Mak is good on the pulse of the village, its ebb and flow as people come and go, but running throughout the book is a genuine anger that this is a meritorious way of life we are too eager to dismiss -- Lesley McDowell * Independent of Sunday * A big subject, neatly summarized, in which he also studies the changes in people's values that take place when they move to big cities, and the role now played by incomers in village life -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald * Nowhere has the silent rural revolution been described more beautifully and with mroe feeling * Volkskrant *