Jonathan Sumption

There was nothing remotely pleasant about a peasant’s existence

Focusing on Ireland and his own peasant heritage, Patrick Joyce laments the passing of a distinctive way of life. But the world his parents left behind was truly horrible

Women carrying loads of dried grasses at the entrance to a village, by Jean-François Millet, 1850. [Bridgeman Images]
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  • Remembering Peasants: A Personal History of a Vanished World

    Patrick Joyce

    Allen Lane, pp. 400, £25

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