I tried in my best squaddie English to articulate how important the ‘sub-story’ in @herdyshepherd1 first book (The Shepherd’s Life) is. I think / hope that if you had ‘challenges’ with the father figure in your formative years, and you’ve read that book, you’ll get what i’m trying to say. James is at once both blunt and eloquent about the issues around his father – son relationship. Anyhoo, the point of this post is to say a) English Pastoral is an important and timely book, b) the aforementioned ‘sub story’ continues in it, and c) @bbcradio4 are reading it as Book of the Week. Chapter 1 is Monday 18th Jan at 0945. // 🐏