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They Seek a Country
Nail maker John Oakley was born in the town of Dulston, but his mother remembered happier origins in the rural village of Grafton Lovett. After her death John sets out to find his maternal grandfather. In 1836 the Enclosure Bill is about to be implemented in Grafton Lovett and John, returning, on foot, from a fruitless visit to Parliament meets some poachers, is arrested and sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. John jumps ship off the coast of South Africa where he is befriended by the Prinsloos, a family of Dutch origin, who are about to leave their homestead to escape from English rule. Oakley, now known as Grafton, accompanies them. Throughout the story there is between nations, between families and within families, and yet a love affair develops between John Grafton and Lisbet Prinsloo
- GenresFiction
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1937
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About the author
Francis Brett Young
132 books22 followersFrancis Brett Young was born in 1884 at Hales Owen, Worcestershire, the eldest son of Dr Thomas Brett Young.
Educated at Iona Cottage High School, Sutton Coldfield and Epsom College, Francis read Medicine at Birmingham University before entering general practice at Brixham in 1907. The following year he married Jessie Hankinson whom he had met during his medical studies. She was a singer of some repute, having appeared as a soloist in Henry Wood's Promenade Concerts.
Francis based one of his earliest novels Deep Sea (1914) in Brixham but was soon to be caught up in the Great War. He served in the R.A.M.C. in East Africa, experiences recorded in Marching on Tanga.
After the war Francis and Jessie went to live in Capri where a number of novels with African as well as English backgrounds were produced. Popular success came in 1927 when Francis was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Portrait of Clare.
The Brett Youngs returned to England in 1929, staying for a while in the Lake District before settling at Craycombe House in Worcestershire in 1932. During this period Francis was at the height of his fame and his annually produced novels were eagerly awaited.
During the Second World War Francis laboured on his long poem covering the spread of English history from prehistoric times. Entitled The Island, it was published in 1944 and regarded by Francis as his greatest achievement.
Following a breakdown in his health Francis and Jessie moved to South Africa where he died in 1954. His ashes were brought back to this country and interred in Worcester Cathedral.
Educated at Iona Cottage High School, Sutton Coldfield and Epsom College, Francis read Medicine at Birmingham University before entering general practice at Brixham in 1907. The following year he married Jessie Hankinson whom he had met during his medical studies. She was a singer of some repute, having appeared as a soloist in Henry Wood's Promenade Concerts.
Francis based one of his earliest novels Deep Sea (1914) in Brixham but was soon to be caught up in the Great War. He served in the R.A.M.C. in East Africa, experiences recorded in Marching on Tanga.
After the war Francis and Jessie went to live in Capri where a number of novels with African as well as English backgrounds were produced. Popular success came in 1927 when Francis was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Portrait of Clare.
The Brett Youngs returned to England in 1929, staying for a while in the Lake District before settling at Craycombe House in Worcestershire in 1932. During this period Francis was at the height of his fame and his annually produced novels were eagerly awaited.
During the Second World War Francis laboured on his long poem covering the spread of English history from prehistoric times. Entitled The Island, it was published in 1944 and regarded by Francis as his greatest achievement.
Following a breakdown in his health Francis and Jessie moved to South Africa where he died in 1954. His ashes were brought back to this country and interred in Worcester Cathedral.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 27, 2025
Until recently I had never heard of Francis Brett-Young, even though his novels sold in great numbers for about twenty years from the early 1930’s. This one was given to me by a friend who is of the same family as the author. I enjoyed it immensely. It is lengthy, but that only reminded me of the booklover I once heard of who, when asked what kind of books she liked, replied “long ones.” A multi faceted historical novel like this one, spreading over many years and widely different places, needs room to expand and breathe. I found it a page-turner.
The novel starts with the hero being victimised by the evil landowners who seek to profit from an Enclosures Act which will deprive the honest English villagers of their customary rights. I am conflicted about Enclosure ever since we studied it at school and were told it was a harsh but necessary measure without which there would have been no ability to feed a large population, start the Industrial Revolution, or make the British Empire. The implication was that backward peasants stood in the way of progress and you can’t make an omelette etc. Even at the time I felt uncomfortable with this analysis. My attraction was to a bucolic rural medievalism, not the grimness of dispossessed peasants forced to work in dark satanic mills. It is obvious that Brett Young’s sympathies are with the peasants, of whom his hero is one. I am, broadly speaking, in agreement.
The hero’s unjust prosecution and transportation are harrowing. The second half of the novel takes what for me was a completely unexpected turn: en route to Australia, he is shipwrecked and escapes, and ends up accompanying the Voortrekkers on the Great Trek, where many adventures await – including conflict with the Zulus at Blood River. (For anyone picking up the book with the cover illustration shown here on GR, this would hardly have come as a surprise – but my copy was in a plain cloth binding without a dust cover, and I assumed the second half of the novel would take place in Australia).
My mother was an Afrikaner of Dutch descent whose ancestors took part in the Great Trek, so I found this of absorbing interest. But anyone who enjoys (slightly dated) epic historical novels would find this enjoyable too. The author – a poet, soldier, and doctor as well as a writer – served in Africa in the first world war and later settled there, and clearly knew and loved it well.
The novel starts with the hero being victimised by the evil landowners who seek to profit from an Enclosures Act which will deprive the honest English villagers of their customary rights. I am conflicted about Enclosure ever since we studied it at school and were told it was a harsh but necessary measure without which there would have been no ability to feed a large population, start the Industrial Revolution, or make the British Empire. The implication was that backward peasants stood in the way of progress and you can’t make an omelette etc. Even at the time I felt uncomfortable with this analysis. My attraction was to a bucolic rural medievalism, not the grimness of dispossessed peasants forced to work in dark satanic mills. It is obvious that Brett Young’s sympathies are with the peasants, of whom his hero is one. I am, broadly speaking, in agreement.
The hero’s unjust prosecution and transportation are harrowing. The second half of the novel takes what for me was a completely unexpected turn: en route to Australia, he is shipwrecked and escapes, and ends up accompanying the Voortrekkers on the Great Trek, where many adventures await – including conflict with the Zulus at Blood River. (For anyone picking up the book with the cover illustration shown here on GR, this would hardly have come as a surprise – but my copy was in a plain cloth binding without a dust cover, and I assumed the second half of the novel would take place in Australia).
My mother was an Afrikaner of Dutch descent whose ancestors took part in the Great Trek, so I found this of absorbing interest. But anyone who enjoys (slightly dated) epic historical novels would find this enjoyable too. The author – a poet, soldier, and doctor as well as a writer – served in Africa in the first world war and later settled there, and clearly knew and loved it well.
June 5, 2010
I have enjoyed several FBY novels before - all of which have been set in the familiar landscape of FBY's mildlands. Having read a biography of FBY I knew he had connections with Africa having served there, and lived there for a time. Several of his novels are set either partly or wholly in Africa and as another bookcrosser gave me a copy of the sequel to They seek a country - I thought I had better read this one so I could later read the sequel. This novel style was easily recognisable - working men, changes bringing unrest and conflict, love affairs running less than smoothly. However once the story moved to Africa - I found I soon bitterly missed FBY's familair landscape - and began to feel bizarrely homesick. However the characters are wonderfully drawn - real people as always. The plot is fast paced and the novel, as so often with FBY becomes hard to put down. Although I have to admit it is my least favourite so far - I will read the sequel - but only after reacquainting myself with FBY's wonderful midlands.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews