A true delight from start to finish, March’s selection, Small Hours by Bobby Palmer beckons us to appreciate all the treasures the British countryside has to offer – from puffball mushrooms to ancient oaks, it’s impossible to close this novel without a renewed appreciation for the natural world.
Jack Penwick is our protagonist, fitted out with a carefully-built life in the city. Lover of ‘radical practicality’ and ‘taking things at face value’, he reluctantly travels back to his family home to track down his missing-in-action mother and reconnect with his father, whose memory is no longer serving him as well as it used to. Through a series of misadventures, Jack is forced to confront the relationships he has prided himself on ignoring for years.
Small Hours reflects on small moments throughout the Penwick family’s history where affection was offered and rejected in equal measure, leading to seemingly irreconcilable rifts.
Complete with chatterbox animals, including the endearing and champion-of-the-cause fox, Small Hours brings back memories of getting lost in the stories of A.A. Milne, Kenneth Grahame and Beatrix Potter. We highly recommend revisiting some of these stories if you’re reluctant to leave the Penwick’s ramshackle abode in the woods behind.
We hope you love this magical and tender tale.
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