A many-layered story of old-fashioned virtue and ambition, anaccount of the practicalities of “a campaign for a better life”. The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.

Na jednu stranu nebyla úplně špatná, na tu druhou mi na ní prostě pořád něco vadilo, byla taková… neúplná, či jak to popsat. Polishing the counters so her face reflected in the brass and sweeping floors at closing time until the boss said she could leave. I enjoyed this book about various ups and downs in the lives of Arthur and Flo and ex-Borstal siblings, Joyce and Charlie who they allow to live with them on their farm/architectural practice based on the ideals of Frank Lloyd Wright. About halfway through Benjamin Wood’s fourth novel, The Young Accomplice, a character laments not having designed her bedroom to better suit her needs.It is a choice that leads to a period in borstal for her and her younger brother, Charlie, developing into a story of opportunity, education and escaping the past.

Benjamin Wood's tender fourth novel is about nature and idealism, but it also examines responsibility and the fragility of inspiration. His third book A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better (2018) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature and the CWA Gold Dagger Award. The couple’s project is a Utopian one: they wish to replenish their farmland so it can provide subsistence as they run their architecture practice/apprenticeship. This year I very much enjoyed Benjamin Wood's highly accomplished The Young Accomplice,a novel which convincingly recreates the 1950s milieu of an architect's utopian dream on a farm in England . You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs.It's the summer of 1952 and she and her younger brother Charlie have just been released from borstal. Wood convincingly outlines the slowly curdling process of being groomed: Joyce is picked up young, and at first there are ice-creams, day trips and a flat of her own, but then there are indebtedness, impositions, threats and violence.