Amy & Lan

Jones (The Outcast) offers a delightful story of life on an English farm co-op from the perspective of two children. Frith, the farm’s name, is a sanctuary from city life for three families, the Honeys, Connells, and Hodges, plus a divorcée named Em and Finbar, who is bipolar. At seven, in 2005, friends Amy Connell and Lan Honey deal with the dilemma of eating Virginia, the turkey that had been raised for Christmas dinner. Amy’s failed-actor father, Adam, emboldened by the growing popularity of his blog, Exit, Pursued by a Goat, starts pushing to open a bed and breakfast, despite resistance from the others. By 2008, Adam gets support from Lan’s witchy mother, Gail, for the B&B venture. Gail shares with Adam an aversion to the dirty farm work, such as butchering the animals—Gail would rather focus on making potions for various ailments—thus heralding an end to the others’ heretofore tranquility. An extramarital affair adds more tension to the farm, but in the eyes of the children, everything will turn out okay (“Dangerous things are always fine if you’re clever like we are, and cool like us,” narrates Lan). Jones does a solid job showing how Amy and Lan, despite their naivety, perceive the truth of the adults’ conflicts. This is great fun. (Aug.)