This Cold Country

I thought this novel was brilliant. The author captured the class consciousness that defined Britain well into the 20th century. Daisy recognizes her place in the social system;she feels slightly superior, as the daughter of educated parents,to the other WWII Land Girl, yet not completely at ease with the "landed gentry' she works for. While several reviewers berate Goff for not fully developing her characters, I would like to offer a Brit's perspective. In her defense, I believe the author, through her subtle character interactions,allows us to experience the insidiousness and ultimate downfall of a class system based on assumed nobility or old wealth. When Daisy finally figures out the desperate financial status of this gentrified family she has married into, she stands out in her bid to salvage the ancestral home by actually taking in paying guests, anathema to a social class that had relied on a good name and a forgiving feudal class to maintain an unrealistic standard of living. Daisy's entrepeneurship is in direct contrast to the family and others of that class who by their ineffectuality seem to invite their own demise.It is a harbinger of the social upheaval to come in Britain and the emergence of the middle class In many ways,Goff's writing reflects the understated style of Kazuo Ishiguro in the context of Remains of the Day, where there is also a maddening sense of non-resolution.It seems to me that an author can be just as judicious about leaving details out as including them. I believe Goff wanted her readers to reflect on the turmoil that war presents on both personal and political levels. And she used her characters well to demonstrate how the human spirit can cope or fail.

This book at first seemed like any other ww1 story but as i got into it, you learn about daisy and her struggle to get through the war without her husband. Her struggles make her face her husbands family which was a hard task for her. With many unanswered questions, she gets through it all with lust, a murder, and mystery that surounds the family during this hard time. i would recommened this book to anyone who loves a good mystery within a ww1 story of survival

If you're looking for a lot of Irish blarney, this book is not for you. However, if you appreciate a subtle but moving story by a surperbly talented writer, try this book. Daisy is a terrific heroine and her coming of age story will move you to tears.

I read this over one weekend. Daisy Creed is like any good Austen heroine. She's plucky, determined, and Davis-Goff spices up rich writing with biting commentary on the manners and motivations of a different time and place. I can't say I knew anything about Ireland before I read the book. Now I want to go there. I just fear that sixty years after the action of this book takes place, I won't find what I'm looking for anywhere except in another novel.

A smart book with rich, mature writing. After a wave of gee-aren't-I-clever tomes, like "A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius" and "The Corrections" I was thrilled to get this passed to me by a friend.Davis-Goff is amusing and intelligent, telling a story of a young woman in a time and place that seems very far away and, in the shadow of recent world events, not that distant at the same time. This book is not packed with action, just wonderful words -- it will remind you why you like reading so much in the first place.