7 Pastoral Novels to Read When You Want to Escape the Madding Crowd
Here’s my accolade for the pastoral novel, with suggestions for pastoral novels and authors you might like to read when exploring this beautiful genre.
Does a small part of you ever long to be ambling down country lanes, chewing a piece of sweetgrass and contemplating the clouds as the sound of lowing cattle drifts across the warm, manure-scented breeze? Maybe a small part of you does, or maybe even a large part.
For my part, I love every whiff of countryside I can get: when I’m in it (not often enough), when I glimpse it in movies, or paintings, or–as happens most often–when I read about it in books.
Among the many literary tastes I inherited from my Dad (namely Tolkien, Golden Age mysteries, adventure stories, and nautical fiction), was an interest in Thomas Hardy, whom I personally and very subjectively consider to be the master of the pastoral novel.
When I was little I wanted the English countryside so bad I could taste it, so Dad told me to read Hardy. I chose The Mayor of Casterbridge, and I found the setting as satisfying as the plot was surprising.
Pastoral novels like Casterbridge are the grandchildren of pastoral poetry, which has been around a lot longer. The ancient Greek poet Theocritus wrote idylls about rustic shepherds and goatherds, who moon over their true loves and engage in sing-offs with other herdsmen. As the pastoral tradition meandered down the centuries to the Renaissance, poets and playwrights increasingly blended realism and satire into their contributions to the genre, challenging the rose-colored innocence and ease of earlier pastorals.
Novelists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who turned their hand to pastoral fiction unfailingly depicted the often harsh realities of rural life. But while pastoral literature grew more “raw,” it still maintains the attractions that have drawn readers for centuries–that drew my Dad and me to Thomas Hardy.
Pastoral novels are a quiet, enduring testament to the countryside, that portray the changing seasons and the embodied work that these cycles breed. They show respect for a simpler, less technologically-driven society, and pay homage to the old ways of doing things, even when those methods and skills are no longer accessible to us. They do these things all while giving us characters in which we recognize universal human concerns–the joys and pains–connecting us to their stories despite our differences in lifestyle or topography.
So the next time you need to clear the cobwebs from your mind and catch a whiff of good clean country air, pick up a pastoral novel and meander through its pages.
Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
– from “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” by Thomas Gray
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Pastoral Novels for a Literary Trip to the Countryside
La Petite Fadette (Little Fadette) by George Sand (1849)
Set in the French countryside, La Petite Fadette is the story of two identical twin brothers who share a tight bond. The first real wedge that comes between them occurs in their teenage years, when one of the boys is hired out to a neighboring farm to contribute to his family’s finances. In the woods, the boy meets Fadette, an ostracized girl who’s said to be a witch. His interactions with her will serve to further prove–or test–his friendship with his twin.
George Sand, born Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, was one of the most popular and prolific novelists of her day, not just in France but throughout Europe. La Petite Fadette is one of four pastoral novels Sand wrote to commemorate her childhood in the French countryside, the others being La Mare au Diable (The Devil’s Pool), François le Champi (The Country Waif), and Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois-Doré (The Gallant Lords of Bois-Doré). Editions of these books in English are a little hard to come by, but you can find public domain translations on Project Gutenberg.
Adam Bede by George Eliot (1859)
Set in a rural village in the West Midlands of England, Eliot described her debut novel as “a country story–full of the breath of cows and scent of hay.” The story takes place at the end of the eighteenth century and follows the lives of two pairs of protagonists, as well as a network of outlying characters with varying degrees of significance to the plot. The central plot is the age-old theme of love, and like a Shakespeare comedy, it’s horribly mixed up, with everyone loving the wrong person. Tragedy and injustice muddle things further, and Eliot uses the plot turnings to draw out what she does best: human psychology, making her pre-Industrial characters feel utterly relatable even to us post-Industrial readers!
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy (1872)
Hardy’s first pastoral novel seeks to answer two questions: will the parish choir be replaced by an organ, and will choir member Dick Dewy be successful in his attempts to woo Fancy Day, the new organist? Under the Greenwood Tree contains most of the things Hardy is known for in his more widely-read novels–a rich portrayal of country life and rural folk, romance, nostalgia–with one notable exception: it’s not tragic! With its short length and simple, gentle plot, this book is an excellent introduction to Hardy’s work.
The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner (1883)
Set in colonial South Africa, The Story of an African Farm follows the lives of three protagonists as children, teenagers, and finally adults. They are not siblings, but grow up together on a large farm, which comes under threat when a greedy Irishman tries to take over.
Schreiner’s novel is unusual and nonlinear. Heavy on dialogue and light on narrative, many of its chapters are vignettes that don’t always follow each other chronologically. Schreiner also uses characters’ thoughts and internal monologues to expound on various religious and philosophical themes. If you want to try a Victorian-era novel that doesn’t really feel like any other Victorian novel you’ve read, The Story of an African Farm is a fascinating outlier.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908)
A pastoral novel for children, The Wind in the Willows 
Like Winnie-the-Pooh, Just So Stories, Alice in Wonderland, and other great works of children’s literature, The Wind in the Willows started as oral stories–in this case, Grahame wanted to entertain his sickly son, Alastair.
“And beyond the Wild Wood again?” [Mole] asked; “where it’s all blue and dim, and one sees what may be hills or perhaps they mayn’t, and something like the smoke of towns, or is it only cloud-drift?”
– The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
“Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wide World,” said the Rat. “And that’s something that doesn’t matter, either to you or me. I’ve never been there, and I’m never going, nor you either, if you’ve got any sense at all. Don’t ever refer to it again, please. Now then! Here’s our backwater at last, where we’re going to lunch.”
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (1913)
O Pioneers! is an agrarian novel of the American Great Plains, set in Nebraska where Cather spent her childhood. It follows the story of Swedish immigrants and the strong-willed heroine Alexandra Bergson, who works tirelessly to make her family farm prosperous. O Pioneers! is the first in Cather’s thematically-linked prairie trilogy, followed by Song of the Lark and My Ántonia.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (1931)
Set in the first part of the 1900s during the reign of the last emperor of China, The Good Earth follows the lives of farmers in Anhui, an eastern province. Wang Lung is hardworking and deeply loves the land, despite the trials his family faces. But times are changing rapidly, and after a series of hardships Wang Lung decides that the city may hold the best chances for his family’s survival. While living in poverty in the big city, Wang Lung pines for his own farm and seeks a way to return to the land.
Pearl S. Buck was an American author, but spent almost half her life in China, first as the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries and then as a missionary herself. The Good Earth is the first in a trilogy; Sons follows the second generation of Wang Lung’s family, and A House Divided continues with the third generation.
There you have it; seven lovely, earthy pastoral novels (plus more if you seek out others by these authors). I’d love to hear what pastoral novels you’ve read, or what’s on your TBR.
A Note on Recognizing Pastoral Novels
I think there’s some genre crossover between pastoral novels and literary regionalism, a genre in which the author seeks to capture a particular setting with its culture, customs, dialect, and landscape—often in an attempt to preserve its memory in a rapidly-changing world. But while all pastoral novels are probably examples of literary regionalism, not all regional novels are pastoral, savvy?
Take The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, for example. The Mississippi River and Missouri settings are iconic for this novel and there’s a lot of countryside and small town feel, but it’s not really a pastoral. In pastoral novels, the land or the rural community is integral to the characters’ livelihoods and daily lives. That’s how I see it, at least. Please add your insight in the comments!
Bonus Round: More Pastoral Novels
For pastoral novels that deal in a (slightly) more modern setting, try Wendell Berry’s novels, Jan Karon’s Mitford series, or the English countryside novels of Miss Read.
I love your list here. Pastoral novels, poetry, art… they are all a favorite of mine.
I wanted to recommend “Still Glides the Stream” by Flora Thompson. This author does an amazing job of drawing you into the lives of her characters, while also focusing heavily on their way of life and rural setting. Her other writings “Lark Rise to Candleford” are a wonderful retelling of life in England for a farming hamlet as the Industrial Revolution encroaches and changes their whole way of life. But it is not written in the form of a novel. “Still Glides the Stream” is much more of a story.
Thank you so much for that recommendation; I had never heard of Still Glides the Stream! I did find a beautiful hardback, illustrated copy of Lark Rise to Candleford at the thrift store for $2.00 a few years ago, and it’s currently sitting on top of my piano waiting for me!
Heidi was my first thought when I saw the Pastoral category. I’ve seen a couple movie adaptations but have never the book. It seems like an obvious example, but would you classify it as a pastoral novel.
Oh wow, yes! I had not thought of that, but I would say that is a beautiful example of a pastoral novel! I hope you read it and love it(:
*never read the book.
I love all of your lists! Thank you so much. 🙂 I just want to print all of them, and I love it when you have a printable version. Would it be hard to make a printable version of this list? (Or all your lists?)
Thanks!!
Oh, you’re welcome!! I really like that idea for a printable booklet of lists! I bet I could do something like that (although with my miniscule amounts of daily work time it might be just a little while before I get to it!). But I will for sure keep that in mind.
The Good Master by Kate Seredy is a beautiful pastoral for all ages. My kids and I all loved it!
Wonderful addition! I love that book! Did you know it has a sequel? I haven’t read it, yet, but it’s on my bookshelf.
I love this list and I love Thomas Hardy. Thank you so much for these lists. I am very interested in classical novels by Scottish authors. If you can direct us to any or maybe one day you’ll have a list of those. Thank you!
Thank you! This post has a few Scottish recommendations. Josephine Tey is another good Scottish author. She’s midcentury, though, so that might not be far back enough depending on what you’re looking for! Here’s a post on her.
I’ve recently listened to (and loved) the audiobook versions of James Herriot’s novels set in the Yorkshire Dales. I’m curious — would you characterize these as pastoral? Memoir? Regional realism?
Absolutely, all of the above! Thank you for mentioning that here!
If you could ask an historical romance novelist to write any kind of plot you wished, what would you ask for? I mean, as far as romance novels set in the past goes, is/are there a/any plot/plots you wish someone would write?
Oh, I love that question! I would love to read a sort of maritime version of Rebecca. Maybe an older male love interest, a sea captain, who marries a younger woman. But she is his second wife, and the first wife still haunts him. Perhaps she went on many of his sea voyages…the new wife wants to prove herself but is totally out of her element on board the ship. I can see all sorts of possibilities!
I haven’t read Rebecca yet. You do mean the one by Daphne Du Mauriur (I know I didn’t spell that right), right? I am a young historical romance novelist myself, but though I love the beach, I don’t like the idea of sea travels very much – I don’t even find the sailor character that likable, though I have enjoyed sailor characters in specific books such as Captain Jim and Uncle Alec (Anne’s House of Dreams, Eight Cousins). I don’t like the idea of being out on a ship, unable to see a tree, for long periods of time. The idea modern cruise ships is nicer to me if for no other reason than that they are sort of like floating cities with gardens and pools and things.
I want people to write more books that are in the tradition of Anne of Green Gables but not trying to re-do Anne. I want more wholesome, beautiful period stories about girls growing up under unusual but not exactly adventurous circumstances. I was surprised not to find many new books coming out of that sort. I thought that since people love Anne they would want to do more of that.
Yes, the one by Du Maurier! I love the sea and I love stories set on it or near it! But you should absolutely check out author Anna Rose Johnson, if you’re not already familiar with her. She is exactly the kind of Anne-tradition author you’re looking for.
Thank you. I was confused by the fact that you had recommended the book but not put it on your “Books Like Anne of Green Gables” list. That threw me off track. I definitely want to read them now, especially as I am right now writing a book taking place in 1910s America.
I found The Star That Always Stays after I wrote that post, so I should probably make an addendum and mention it now! Good luck on your book!