Polly Morland’s A Fortunate Woman (Picador, £16.99; Tablet price £15.29) is a compelling response to John Berger’s classic account of a country doctor, A Fortunate Man. Over 50 years since Berger documented the life of John Sassall, Morland weaves the story of the same valley’s current doctor into a portrait of people, landscape and community. The characters are – like the place itself – drawn with colour and respect in Morland’s sensitive prose. In much the same way as Craig Taylor’s Return to Akenfield, Morland discovers a community turning towards the future,
holding on to crumbs of the past.