The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain
The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain
In the early 1960s, in a small town near Dartmoor, the church bells ring. The people of North Tawton go about their days, catching glimpses of one another�s lives. There�s the local GP, who knows more about his patients than he would sometimes prefer. There�s the young shop assistant at Kestrels, who understands that the ladies who come there for a new outfit sometimes hope to find a new self. There�s the tenant farm labourer who rings the tower bells at the church three times a week, the notes � harmonious and clashing � rippling out across the rooftops of the town. Amid all these lives, a young couple move into focus. New to the town with their small daughter, they have escaped London for a quieter existence in the thatched house beside the church, Court Green. The life they intend to build here � out of fresh lino tiles, second-hand furniture painted with hearts and flowers, and expertly-cooked suppers for weekend guests � will be a good and happy one. The Daffodil Days depicts a pivotal year in the marriage of 20th-century literature�s most infamous couple, witnessed by the people they lived among. It is a kaleidoscopic portrait of this enigmatic pair, refracted through the rich inner lives of a rural community caught � if only for a moment � in their light.
