Beyond The Plough

Now a wealthy young widow, former peasant girl Siana Forbes has overcome her humble beginnings to become mistress of Cheverton Manor, the handsome estate which her infant son Ashley will one day inherit. She is at last beginning to recover from her grief at the death of her husband, the powerful and sensual squire, Edward Forbes, and when the man she truly loves, village doctor Francis Matheson, asks for her hand in marriage, it seems as though Siana can dare to be happy again. But it cannot last. The death of his brother means that Francis must undertake a perilous voyage to Van Dieman's Lane off the coast of Australia - a land where danger and hardship await. Left to raise a growing family, Siana faces trouble on the home front too, when a sinister figure from her past re-emerges, determined to cause havoc. And a terrible ordeal suffered by Siana's stepdaughter, Maryse, on the night of the harvest supper means that Siana is faced with a heartbreaking choice. Will she be able to overcome the odds stacked against her, keep her troubled family together - and can she dare to hope that her beloved Francis will ever return to her?

In Behind the Plough, agricultural historian Nigel Agar surveys a century of agricultre in Hertfordshire, the first time such a history has been written. The 19th century saw changes in agriculture just as dramatic as the developments taking place in industry. Throughout the period under consideration, Herrtfordshire was almost entirely rural but its proximity to London meant that it was in no sense isolateed. Indeed, the needs of the capital influenced the way agriculture was carried out in the county.

January 1944, the south coast of England. The Fifth Battalion, Wessex Regiment wait patiently and nervously for the order to embark. There is boredom and fear, comedy and pathos as the men - all drawn from different walk of life - await their order to move. With an economy of language that belies its emotional impact, From the City, From the Plough is a vivid and moving account of the fate of these men as they embark for Normandy and advance into France, where the battalion suffers devestating casulaties.

Is there a better way than capitalism? A much-cited recent poll found that more young Americans have a positive view of socialism than of capitalism. There's a sense of newly opened possibilities: Might this be the moment for a mass movement of solidarity to overthrow the tyranny of concentrated power and wealth? But what exactly is this cause? Socialism's champions know how to take effective whacks at capitalism, but diagnosis is not yet the cure. This issue of Plough springs from a conviction that there is a better answer beyond capitalism and socialism, a freely chosen life of sharing and caring that overcomes economic exploitation, a way of life that is both thoroughly practical and independent of the state. This vision is much older than Adam Smith and Karl Marx; it lies at the heart of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and throughout the New Testament, as well as in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. It is exemplified by the communal life of the first church in Jerusalem, in which "all who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need" (Acts 2:44-45). Also in this issue: poetry by Jane Tyson Clement; reviews of books by Jennifer Berry Hawes, Robert Macfarlane, Emily Bazelon, and John Connell; and art and photography by Wassily Kandinsky, N. C. Wyeth, Deborah Batt, Kari Nielsen, Chris Arnade, William Morris, Hilzías Salazar, Amedeo Modigliani, Benjamin Meader, Bianca Berends, Elise Palmigiani, and Danny Burrows. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus' message into practice and find common cause with others.