Ian Platt: 2 books

William Presslie's "The Uncommon Herd" brings the mid 19th Century rural poor of Aberdeenshire, Scotland to life. It is difficult to judge which was harder, the day to day unremarked cruelty of schooling or the unrelenting demands of labour on farms, in all weathers and all seasons. William's...

I lay on the warm sunny bank in the Sussex field that has always been called "Hilly Field" and looked across to the little village of Cowden, in Kent and listened to the old church bells pealing across the valley, taking me back to the days when I was young, and hearing them then.