I haven't read any other books by this writer (this is her fourth memoir) but I knew something of her story through newspaper and magazine articles.

Happily this book doesn't chart any more tragedy in Clover's life (when she was sixteen, her mother was paralysed in a riding accident and five years ago Clover's sister, Nell Gifford, who founded Gifford's Circus, died of breast cancer at 46), but this is an account of Clover's life and family.

Clover, her husband Pete and their five children have made a home near the ancient Ridgeway in Oxfordshire, and it sounds rather idyllic. Horses, chickens, rolling hills, a farmhouse kitchen.

But the oldest two children are going to university and Pete's work has taken him to America. He wants Clover and the three youngest children to join him. 

To say it's a wrench for Clover to consider leaving this precious landscape is putting it mildly. The book is all about the grief she feels at letting it all go. 

In exploring why she feels so strongly about uprooting herself and her family, she walks us through the countryside, its people and its past. There are strong emotions here. It's more than having a nice house and garden, this is home, belonging, identity and security.

She writes beautifully and I lost myself in the rural life she was describing, but it did feel a little bit indulgent after a while. And ultimately an initial, honest, face-to-face conversation with her husband could have saved a lot of time and heartache! But it's a very enjoyable read.