Notwithstanding: Stories from an English Village

by Louis de Bernieres

Welcome to the village of Notwithstanding, where a lady dresses in plus fours and shoots squirrels, a retired general gives up wearing clothes altogether, a spiritualist lives in a cottage with the ghost of her husband, and people think it quite natural to confide in a spider that lives in a potting shed. Based on de Bernières’ recollections of the village he grew up in, Notwithstanding is a funny and moving depiction of a charming vanished England.

I recommend these stories to everyone of every age. For us oldies, it is a taste on nostalgia, for the younger generations, it is a lesson in English life before the internet.

Paperback Book: £9.99 from Amazon. Click Here to order your copy of this hilarious and  laugh-out-loud celebration of the English Village as it used to be.

About the author: Louis de Bernieres

Louis de Bernieres was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book Eurasia Region in 1991 and 1992, and for Best Book in 1995. He was selected by Granta as one of the twenty Best of Young British Novelists in 1993, and lives in Norfolk, East Anglia.

Photo by Taken by Flickr user Walnut Whippet. (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.