If you're looking for a book about the more "traditional" aspects of the English countryside, with the vicar, the doctor, the local lord, the retired colonel and the elderly spinster who does welfare work in the village, this book is not for you. Try Elizabeth Goudge or even Agatha Christie. If you're looking for what seems to be an accurate description of rural low life in Thatcher's England, then you'll find this book interesting. It's a little wordy, but presented in an interesting way, and deeply feminist. It's the last aspect I found eye opening. It's not a fun book, being all rather gloomy, but well worth reading nonetheless.