Amaryllis at the Fair

By Richard Jefferies

Originally published in 1887, 'Amaryllis at the Fair' is a work by the English writer Richard Jefferies. It is set on a farm in rural England where a little girl named Amaryllis despairs at her family's hardships. It is full of wonderful descriptions of country life that were close to the writer's heart, himself having grown up in Wiltshire, England. We are republishing this work with a brand new introductory biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Press
• Release date: Feb 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473398993

Reviews for Amaryllis at the Fair

[tedward-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amaryllis seems to really be Richard Jefferies in female form when he was little. Old varieties of apples are described and the joints of pork. Amaryllis's parents most of the time seem to be on bad terms with each other, but at other times it seems they are in love. Amaryllis watches people going to the fair from the top of a high wall. She drops a coin down for a withered old woman. It is described how Iden, the father, has a really strong gate made by a carpenter rather than fitting a cheap one. This is given as an example of how England was made great. Forty fold potatoes are described. This was Richard Jefferies' last book and he was ill. He describes how an American man told him the best cure for tuberculosis was crude oil. He says how "everything is in the Turkish fashion", everything is higgledypiggledy, fatalistic, this ties in with an essay he wrote about the absence of design in nature.