An ode and manual to a quiet life that now reads as a coda to a lifestyle that barely seems possible in current times. The Gamekeeper covers a year in the life of a gamekeeper (shocking) who raises pheasants and grouse to be hunt on a duchy in rural England. A retired steelworker, our protagonist now spends his day caring for his birds and fending off poachers, both human and animal. Touching on themes of class, friendship, and solitude, the novel will get its teeth in you and its hard not to yearn for this life among the birds and trees.

A, warts and all, story of the life of a gamekeeper in the rural North of England. When the steel works are mines were the main occupations of the area. Told over a year, the gamekeeper is in charge of breeding pheasants for the hunt. In a time when small hunt animals were currency for favours.

I just loved this book. It's a bit grim living off the land, but that's how it was before supermarkets. A great insight into life back then. It was very entertaining.