DownshiftingDownshifting celebrates places where the nourishing values of literature survive; places where the technological revolution and celebrity culture fails to intrude upon enduring and deeply felt human values. Though by no means a reactionary tract for the time, it is not afraid to mourn the loss of value and meaning, to lyricise the enduring, to turn away from the default modern poses of irony and fatalism. It also contains several meditations on the

on a cart drawn by white panthers

after long periods of training

self-taught scholar

A gap year in Paris sees his skill exploited by a manuscript dealer

she was still revising her novel The Cure for Dying

• Woody Allen

anecdote and history gives us new insights into the patterns and vivacity of life in one of the most beautiful places in Britain

Giraffes in slings

and the elements – are imbued with beauty and mystery

Fadhil Assultani

she has translated into English much of the poetry of Mourid Barghouti

David Jones