An engaging speculative satire about going back to the land by the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin Q wants a simpler life. His work as a quantum cryptographer for the government has led him to believe a crisis is imminent for civilisation and he wants a safe place to ride out what's ahead. He buys a ruined farm in Cornwall and decides to build his own self-sufficient haven. Over the course of this quest he meets the eccentric characters who already live in the wilds nearby - including the park ranger in charge of the reintroduced lynxes, aurochs and wolves that roam the area; a holy man waiting for the second coming on top of a nearby hill; and the ghost of an Edwardian woman who inhabits the farmhouse. As life back in the city gets more complicated, Q flourishes in the wildness of the Cornish countryside. Turning away from technology brings him back in tune with his teenage children, his ex-wife and his own sense of who he is. In this entertaining satirical novel Louis de Bernières tackles modern mores and looks at we should treasure in our precarious lives.