''Wish You Were Here'' is a novel by English writer
Graham Swift
Graham Colin Swift FRSL (born 4 May 1949) is an English writer. Born in London, England, he was educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York.
Career
Some of Swift's books have been filmed, ...
, first published in 2011.
Synopsis
This is a novel about the changing face of rural England. It is narrated by the last of a long line of
West Country farmers who now (in 2004) runs a caravan park on the
Isle of Wight with his childhood sweetheart, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. As Jack Luxton travels to collect the body of his brother, repatriated from the
war in Iraq, and take it to the family burial plot in
North Devon
North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and Lynmouth ...
, he relates the history of the Luxton family and their traditional professions of farming and military service. Alongside this he tells the story of the near demise of dairy farming in England, through the twin catastrophes of
BSE in 1996 and the
foot and mouth disease in 2001. Added to this is the increasingly common and equally disastrous disease of wealthy city dwellers buying second homes in rural areas, thus disrupting traditional village life and making it too expensive for locals to stay in their natural communities.
References
External links
Review in the Telegraph
{{Graham Swift
2011 British novels
Novels by Graham Swift
Novels set in Devon
Picador (imprint) books
Culture on the Isle of Wight
Novels about families
Fiction set in 2004