SHORT-LISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
On the morning after harvest, the inhabitants of a remote English village
awaken looking forward to
a hard-earned day of rest and feasting at their landowner's table. But the sky is marred by two
conspicuous columns of smoke, replacing pleasurable anticipation with alarm and suspicion.
One smoke column is the result of an overnight fire that has damaged the master's outbuildings. The
second column
rises from the wooded edge of the village, sent
u...