A Man of His Time: A Novel

A working-class family saga set in rural England from the bestselling author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.

In 1887, Ernest Burton is a robust twenty-one-year-old who sets off to Wales in his best suit in order to work at his brother's forge. En route, he meets, seduces, and promptly impregnates a young widow. Such is the first episode of what turns into a lifetime of compulsive philandering whenever the blacksmith has a few hours away from his job. Within a year, Burton...