40/ DECEMBER 2020 THE RIDER Surviving Lockdown On Horseback


New Book Offers A Countryman’s View Of Britain During The Coronavirus Pandemic Of 2020


Mix Of A Deep Country Idyll Contrasts


With City Catastrophe, First Reviewers Hear Echoes Of Proust, Garrison Keillor, Laurie Lee And Dylan Thomas


‘Life in a Time of Plague’ is a new book by Ju-


lian Roup, author of ‘A Fisherman in the Saddle’ and ‘Boerejood’. ‘Life in a Time of Plague’ is the story of Britain


under the first 75 days of its unprecedented Covid- 19 lockdown, seen from the author’s rural East Sus-


sex valley home. The book has won plaudits from the Whitbread


Prize winning Irish poet and Oxford don, Bernard O’Donoghue, author of Seamus Heaney and the Lan- guage of Poetry (1995), who says: “It is a wonderful account of the time of coronavirus; I especially like the reverie at the end with its sense of time regained in that Proustean way. The writer, Julian Roup has a great gift for evocation and description.” From the refuge of a seemingly idyllic country idyll, the book monitors in bleak and forensic detail


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the failure of the Government to protect Britain, and its woeful response at every stage of the pandemic. The author’s age and medical issues colour this


diary with a dark humour, as his age group is most at risk. He is determined to make his 70th birthday at least, despite the thousands of death in Britain to date. It is a quiet slow appreciation of the bright and


dark spring and summer of 2020 in the English coun- tryside, set against the horrors faced by frontline workers to whom the book is dedicated. However what is most surprising is that amid


the death, heartache and economic carnage, there is a silver lining, the chance to simply stop and stare, and rethink our lives. BLKDOG Publishing say: “We are de-


lighted to be able to publish Julian Roup’s new book. His writing has been described by the FT as: “Brilliant, terrific, really very, very good. Engaged, intelligent, personal, fast moving and funny.” And this new book underlines that gift. To buy a copy of the book link to:


www.blkdogpublishing.com/ post/_roup Author Julian Roup comments: “With


this terrible threat hanging over us I felt a need to add my voice to what will become the human story of death and survival of this pandemic that has brought the world to a screeching halt. And to hold this woeful Government to account, as it has failed to protect Britain.” A Foreward by writer, editor and


broadcaster, Ivan Macquisten, says: “A plague on him dammit – why didn’t I get there first? This is the standout lockdown diary. I have long come to appreciate Julian Roup’s ready wit, lilting tones and gently reflective delivery. He employs all this deftly to draw in the reader with a charm that bewitches – but beware, because when his deeply driven liberal conscience is of- fended by our lords and masters, he can break that spell with a sharpness that makes you catch your breath. Listening to him is a little like being a


batsman watching the reassuring whites of a village team spin bowler as, slowly draw- ing back his arm, he trots up to the crease, only to discover a split second later that the stumps have gone and the umpire is direct- ing you back to the pavilion after you’ve been caught by a googly. Roup is a seriously good writer with a heft and tone that echoes the mesmerising delivery of the great Gar- rison Keillor. “ An early review in BizNews where the


book was first featured as a podcast, de- scribed it as “a mix of Cider with Rosie and Under Milkwood.” The book is published by BLKDOG


Publishing in London and is available on Amazon Books and Barnes & Noble. www.blkdogpublishing.com/post/_roup


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