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The Perfect Golden Circle

Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club 2022

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The Perfect Golden Circle

By: Benjamin Myers
Narrated by: Tim Key
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Bloomsbury presents The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers, read by Tim Key.

**Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club 2022**
**The BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick**
**Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2022**

'In this folksy, magnetic tale, two outsiders seek healing and enlightenment by creating crop formations in a Wiltshire field ... A memorable hymn to beauty' OBSERVER

'The pleasures of this bountiful novel are like a glass of cool water on a parched summer day' THE TIMES

‘A spirited and anarchic novel... a roiling, rollicking crop-circle folk tale’ GUARDIAN

England, 1989. Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men – traumatized Falklands veteran Calvert, and affable, chaotic Redbone – set out nightly in a clapped-out camper van to undertake an extraordinary project.

Under cover of darkness, the two men traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns. As the summer wears on, and their designs grow ever more ambitious, the two men find that their work has become a cult international sensation – and that an unlikely and beautiful friendship has taken root as the wheat ripens from green to gold.

Moving and exhilarating, tender and slyly witty, The Perfect Golden Circle is a captivating novel about the futility of war, the destruction of the English countryside, class inequality – and the power of beauty to heal trauma and fight power.

'Brilliantly constructed and steeped in rural atmosphere' FINANCIAL TIMES, Best summer books of 2022(P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fantasy Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Heartfelt Witty Paranormal
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Critic reviews

A book is shot through with a romantic, even mystical radicalism of the kind that William Blake would have approved of.
The same visceral, iconoclastic thrill I got from Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem ... A study in male friendship and British identity, and a warm, rollicking, heart-expanding read. You’ll never forget the time you spend in the company of Calvert and Redbone
Brilliantly constructed and steeped in rural atmosphere
A spirited and anarchic novel ... A roiling, rollicking crop-circle folk tale
A joy
The most beautiful book about friendship, about nature ... I think it will appeal to everybody (BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB)
The understated, plangent loveliness of Myers’s storytelling is reminiscent of Mackenzie Crook’s brilliant TV series Detectorists. Here is a strong, spiritual writer who sees and loves every dewdrop, old oak, soft little animal and buried sword, and offers them up to us like the precious treasures they are. The Perfect Golden Circle deserves top ranking in any list of the best books about rural England
In this folksy, magnetic tale, two outsiders seek healing and enlightenment by creating crop formations in a Wiltshire field ... combining lyricism with comedy and themes that range from warfare and environmental calamity to hope and healing ... A memorable hymn to beauty
Clever, angry, poignant and beautifully constructed ... A work of love, and a work about works of love, and a work that evokes a sense of love in the reader
The beauty of Myers’ language alone is reward enough to read this superb novel, but The Perfect Golden Circle offers so much more: an all-too-rare literary depiction of rural England, the depths of the two central characters, the class and ecological concerns; but most of all the human need for what the Welsh poet Bobi Jones called "the boundless mystery that comforts being." A truly remarkable novel (RON RASH)
Tender and magical
I’ve been loving reading aloud The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers to my mother. It’s a delightfully descriptive book, telling the story of two men in the south of England who create crop circles in the dead of night. Myers interweaves modernity and myth, UFOs and ancient rites. At the heart of the book is the main character’s mantra. “Fuel the myth, strive for beauty”
Full of mythology, wonder and oddity, Myers’ typical lyricism moves seamlessly from the mundane to the magical… Those who feel the English countryside deep within their bones will be enchanted by this folk gem from one of the nation’s most illuminating writers
All stars
Most relevant
Great story beautifully written. Tim Key's narration lends itself perfectly to the atmosphere of the tale.

Best book I've read this year.

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Beautifully evocative of a simpler life and pure creative purpose. Well described characters and relationships to each other and to the countryside.

The philosophy and relationship of the two men

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Beautifully read by Tim Key, who did a great justice to Benjamin Myers’s novel.
The language used throughout envelopes the reader/listener, both in the characters and the environment and also the concerns of the local ecology near and far.
A romantic and magical novel written with such depth of feeling for the environment which should not be taken for granted.
As a fan of Benjamin’s novel this did not fail to please.

Stunning and encapsulating

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This is a treasure of a tale. Listen and enjoy and let yourself be immersed in the Summer.

Golden nugget

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A fresh take on crop circles that was in genius and fascinating. We are all intrigued by these extraordinary circles, and how an earth do they get there, it’s a magical thing the magic was kept alive, while we had an insight into how it happened superb.

n excellent& tinteresting story, it Ticked All boxes… this is the best story I’ve ever enjoyed on audible.

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