Not for me, this West Country trilogy. I can appreciate that both this and the first volume, The Horseman, are well written and meticulously researched, and if you want to know anything at all about country life in the first decade or so of the 19th century in England, these will be a joy to read. I didn’t find the slow pace a problem, but I did find that I simply wasn’t interested enough in the detailed descriptions of agriculture and hunting and so on. I found the main protagonist Leo an engaging character and felt for him, certainly in this volume, but found Lottie, the daughter of the estate with whom his life is seemingly inextricably linked, a particular irritating character. I wasn’t engaged by the storyline and found myself skipping large chunks. It’s me, not Tim Pears, I can see that, but I really didn’t enjoy either book.