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|title=Harvest

|author=Jim Crace

|reviewer=Jill Murphy

|date=February 2013

|isbn=0330445669

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As harvest comes in, a village finds itself under threat. Invaded by a series of unfamiliar visitors, it will find itself utterly transformed over a short but apocalyptic seven days. We watch through the eyes of Walter Thirsk as three vagabonds escaping the enclosure of their fields are blamed for the trangressions of others, as the chartmaker Mr Quill enumerates the common land, and as Master Kent's benevolent rule is overtaken by a new owner, who comes with enforcers in the name of ''profit, progress and enterprise'' - or sheep farming as Walter quickly realises.

I love Jim Crace's writing: the structure, the pace, the rhythms. I love his imagery. ''Harvest'' doesn't have much of a conclusion - it's an anecdote, an episode, a pondering. Some may find it frustrating, but I love it for that subtle refusal. It's is a story of appropriation. The specific circumstance of the enclosing of common lands is undertold and so ''Harvest'' should be applauded regardless, but it seems to me that it's also appropriate to the various breakings of today's societies. A beautiful and undecided novel for everyman.

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