SOURCE: Bilston, John. “Chronicles of Albion.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4649 (8 May 1992): 20.

In the following review, Bilston offers a generally favorable assessment of Ulverton, commenting that the novel is “by turns sad, amusing and mildly acerbic.”

In Ulverton, Adam Thorpe highlights a selection of events and characters over a period of three and a half centuries. The eponymous village where these chronicles are set is located on the Wessex Downs, and is meant to represent Albion in microcosm. National and international events of historical importance such as Enclosure, the turbulent first appearance (and systematic smashing) of agricultural machinery and the bombing of Hiroshima, are considered from the viewpoint of English ruralism. The book is divided into twelve chronological sections, each one written, with competence and credibility, in a different style. This makes for a pleasing textural variety compounded of straightforward story-telling, tap-room reminiscence, letters, diary entries, a sermon, some...