Amy and Lan: The enchanting new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Outcast

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There was an attention to detail that enhanced the setting and time period; references to Gameboys, Geox shoes and Franz Ferdinand felt nostalgic as someone who grew up in the 2000s. It took me sometime to get into the flow of reading this book, perhaps the build-up of the story line was a bit slow for me! An orphaned calf (“Gabriella Christmas”) arrives one December, a gift from a neighbour, nursed indoors for months by Lan and Amy. Veggies are grown, stony land cleared, children are born, animals accumulate: chickens, goats, more goats, turkeys, a cow.

In alternating chapters, the children introduce us to their bold and adventurous selves — Lan’s axe experiment has luckily missed Amy’s toes — and describe the weather (frequently damp and cold), moods and personalities of the adults in charge of their bit of paradise. The anecdotes surrounding farm life and the animals that inhabit Frith was another highlight, especially the story of Gabriella Christmas, a cow that grows up alongside the children throughout the book. Our narrators are Amy and Lan (for Lachlan), seven-year-old best friends, revelling in their shared freedom on the “organic smallholding” that their parents and friends have reclaimed from dereliction. This device did not work for me as their voices and perceptions were largely indistinguishable so it served no purpose. A story about the “real” Good Life through the eyes of Amy and Lan, and what initially apppears to be carefree childhood, where they are trying to understand changes in their lives, some as a consequence of life on a farm and the relationship with the animals and ‘town’ kids, and others as a consequence of the behaviour of the adults around them.

Amy and Lan speaks directly to the lockdown-generated belief that life is better surrounded by fields and sheep rather than dirty urban streets. They do not look through a glass darkly but make astute and shared assessments of their parents and other adults. Newly pregnant, she left her London marriage to stay with Harriet, her old friend in Bristol (Amy’s Mum). Initially I found it quite difficult to follow and without any direction, one chapter being written as ‘Lan’ , the next as ‘Amy’, which made it a bit more difficult to follow which parents/family belonged to which child, but it’s worth persevering with.

Themes of growing up and losing the innocence of childhood are woven into the story, along with the difficulties of friendships. I was irritated by many of the adults who were so engrossed in their own lives that the children ran wild in dirty clothes and missing school. Sometimes hard to work out which of the children was narrating the story, which couples were together and who their children were.Lan says that Amy never thinks that her mum ’might just go off one day’, which is a hint at what his mum has already done and so might do again. The adult drama of Frith and the way in which it was filtered through the childish perceptions of its narrators, often relayed through overheard conversations, was a highlight. Others will feel sorrow for insecure, neglected children who turn to each other for the emotional support that is so sadly lacking. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting.