{"product_id":"before-i-go-9781784634308","title":"Before I Go","description":"\u003ch3\u003eSynopsis\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eA year on a Cutteslowe estate, watched over by Shep Meadows: ninety-seven years old, four foot twelve, and quite unable to make himself understood.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eShep Meadows is ninety-seven, four foot twelve, and unintelligible to almost everyone on his Oxford estate. He has lived in the same Cutteslowe house since 1932, surrounded by four generations of his sprawling family. Every morning he walks. He watches. He eavesdrops. He sees more than anyone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEarlier this year his beloved great-niece Angel died in circumstances no one has explained. Goaded by his nephew Filbert’s casual remark that God has perhaps forgotten him, Shep resolves to tell what happened – and to do so he must tell us about all the others in whose lives the child once nestled, his little bird.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcross twelve months of comedy, grief and slow revelation, Shep gives us his estate in full: Grandma, Lulu and Elvis, Josie home from the army, the Earl of Cutteslowe, Jules at the Community Centre. A wise and tender state-of-the-nation novel told from four feet twelve off the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003ePraise for Previous Work\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘(On \u003ccite\u003eThe Horseman\u003c\/cite\u003e) A novel that is as moving and profound as it is evocative of the landscape and period.’ —\u003ccite\u003eObserver\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘(On \u003ccite\u003eThe Wanderers\u003c\/cite\u003e) Goodness, Tim Pears writes beautifully … The descriptions of rural life, executed with painterly exactness, are a constant delight. The prose really sings.’ —\u003ccite\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘(On \u003ccite\u003eThe Wanderers\u003c\/cite\u003e) Pears takes his place alongside Flora Thompson and Ronald Blythe – even Hardy – as one who teaches us the real nature of country as it used to be.’’ —\u003cstrong\u003eMelissa Katsoulis\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003ccite\u003eThe Times\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘(On \u003ccite\u003eThe Redeemed\u003c\/cite\u003e) His prose is luminous … Pears’ fiction has been likened to Thomas Hardy’s, and the comparison is apposite … powerful, vivid and humane.’ —\u003cstrong\u003eHannah Beckerman\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003ccite\u003eObserver\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘(On the \u003ccite\u003eWest Country Trilogy\u003c\/cite\u003e) A gorgeously hypnotic paean to rural England … peppered with moments of awestruck wonder at the natural world.’ —\u003cstrong\u003eMelissa Harrison\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003ccite\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tim Pears","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":56246952526203,"sku":"9781784634308","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0851\/7222\/files\/9781784634308.jpg?v=1778622443","url":"https:\/\/www.saltpublishing.com\/products\/before-i-go-9781784634308","provider":"Salt","version":"1.0","type":"link"}