Villager

Villager is a captivating story set in a West Country village, where tales abound; some are forgotten, while others morph into local folklore. The village's fortunes are woven into history by an omniscient, somewhat crabby presence that meticulously records village life.

In the late sixties, a Californian musician drifts through Underhill, composing haunting folk songs that will later grant him a cult following. Fast forward two decades, and a group of teenagers uncover a body on the local golf course. By 2019, two lodgers find a one-eyed rag doll hidden in the walls of their dilapidated home. Despite the connections made and lost over the years, only the landscape itself ties these stories together. This is a landscape at risk from property development, dotted with pylons whose bases are buried deep in the moor.

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