{"product_id":"2026200004842-secondhand-akenfield-portrait-of-an-english-village","title":"Akenfield: Portrait Of An English Village","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good                          \u003cbr\u003eJacket: N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good                  \u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA landmark work of oral history and social documentary, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village chronicles the lives of the inhabitants of a Suffolk village in the late 1960s, weaving together the voices of farmers, craftsmen, nurses, and the elderly to construct an intimate and unflinching portrait of rural English life. Ronald Blythe presents the testimonies of over forty villagers, capturing the seismic shift from the brutal agricultural labor of the Victorian era to the mechanized, modernizing world of the twentieth century. The tone is elegiac yet unsentimental, honoring the dignity of working-class rural experience while honestly confronting the hardship, poverty, and quiet resignation that shaped generations. Widely regarded as a classic of English literature, the work illustrates how a single community can serve as a microcosm for the sweeping social and economic transformations of an entire nation. Akenfield remains a deeply humane and beautifully rendered testament to a vanishing way of life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48792275845339,"sku":"2026200004842-SECONDHAND","price":20.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/609d7711-5249-4c3b-83e3-a9412f0331a3.png?v=1779274494","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200004842-secondhand-akenfield-portrait-of-an-english-village","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}