Description

Villages are full of tales: some are forgotten while others become a part of local folklore. But the fortunes of one West Country village are watched over and irreversibly etched into history as an omniscient, somewhat crabby, presence keeps track of village life.

In the late sixties a Californian musician blows through Underhill and writes a set of haunting folk songs that will earn him a cult following. Two decades later, some teenagers disturb a body on the local golf course. In 2019, a pair of lodgers discover a one-eyed rag doll hidden in the walls of their crumbling home. Connections are forged and broken across generations, but only the landscape itself can link them together. A landscape threatened by property development and speckled by the pylons whose feet have been buried across the moor.

Tom Cox’s masterful debut novel synthesises his passion for music, nature and folklore into a psychedelic and enthralling exploration of village life and the countryside that sustains it.

Publisher Review

'Tom's newest book, his debut novel Villager, takes the reader on his strangest and most gloriously idiosyncratic trip yet' Writing Magazine 'A rich potpourri that keeps us busy enough not to worry about what it adds up to' Anthony Cummins, Mail on Sunday 'Few books have such a damply pungent sense of place as Tom Cox's intriguing first novel' Guardian 'This is ideal summer holiday reading - to be relished piecemeal or devoured in one fell swoop, as I did' BBC Countryfile 'The true appeal of the story is its interweaving of themes and narratives ... Villager is one of the must-read novels of 2022' Matthew d'Ancona, Tortoise Media 'An exquisitely detailed, many-voiced tale of people, place and folklore ... a communication with lost voices rich in wonder, longing and exalted psychedelic flight' Mojo 'A joyous tumble of animism, love, music and mystery that beautifully balances awe and irreverence: Villager left me with a sense of an ancient longing that is hard to shake off' Zoe Gilbert 'What will I be able to read after Villager? I'll just read it again, I guess. And again. Just cancel all other books' Adele Nozedar, author of The Hedgerow Handbook 'A relatable and compelling read ... Anyone would love it' Dorian Cope 'Villager is a marvellously inventive and imaginative fiction. A tremendous novel' William Boyd 'Tom Cox's books are hedgerows. All about the journey and not the destination. They delicately link one stunning viewpoint to another whilst providing nourishment for the heart and soul, a safe haven for a host of endangered fantasies, musings and stories' Alice Lowe 'Villager is delightfully convoluted, otherworldly and captivating, immersing the reader in the contours and personality of the landscape and those who inhabit it' Mark Diacono 'A synthesis of folklore, nature and the curious psychedelia in ordinary experience that points to the truths in which we find meaning. Tom Cox is a master of effortless, fluid storytelling and Villager is alive with both gnawing edge and Cox's signature flavour of clipped, pragmatic humour which is perfectly juxtaposed with the unbounded imagination of Villager's world . . . It's tender and dark and strangely comforting. I loved it' Laura Kennedy, Irish Times & Sunday Times 'Tom is such an original mind, and brave in his approach to writing, so it's no surprise at all that he has written a novel that surprises, delights and fizzes with imagination' Sathnam Sanghera 'A glorious ramble ... This is an epic, oddball soap opera soundtracked by folk music, birdsong and the rattle of hedgerows against car windows ... Its psychedelic tangle suggests that our short lives can nourish the landscape, if we watch our step' Guardian