An Island in Time
  • Published: 15 September 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099546863
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $35.00

An Island in Time

The Biography of a Village

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A fascinating account of the life and charming inhabitants of a typical countryside village, and how it must adapt and change in order to survive in the modern world.

In this book Geert Mak returns to the small Frisian village of his childhood, Jorwert (pop. 330 and falling). It's a typical European village where the shops are closing down, the few children left will escape to a less arduous life in the city and it's becoming increasingly isolated. Jowert has more in common with an English village than with Amsterdam, and it's moving story of neighbours and their efforts to preserve their long established way of life is relevant to the changing face of the countryside everywhere in Europe.
  • Published: 15 September 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099546863
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $35.00
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About the author

Geert Mak

Geert Mak is a journalist and historian, and the internationally acclaimed author of In Europe, In America, Amsterdam and The Bridge. He is one of the Netherlands’ bestselling authors, has twice been awarded Historian of the Year and his books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Also by Geert Mak

The Dream of Europe
In Europe (Vintage Classic Europeans Series)
In America
The Bridge
In Europe
Amsterdam
See all

Praise for An Island in Time

Eloquent

Guardian

Movingly relevant

Irish Times

Nowhere has the silent rural revolution been described more beautifully and with mroe feeling

Volkskrant

This book is not just about Jorwerd, it is about all the villages in the world, the oldest community known to man, where all our ancestors, our collective memories, our highest values and most beautiful stories originate

NRC Handelsblad

Mak is good on the pulse of the village, its ebb and flow as people come and go, but running throughout the book is a genuine anger that this is a meritorious way of life we are too eager to dismiss

Lesley McDowell, Independent of Sunday

A big subject, neatly summarized, in which he also studies the changes in people's values that take place when they move to big cities, and the role now played by incomers in village life

Alastair Mabbott, Herald
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