The Land in Winter

Dr. Eric Parry proudly drives his Citroën ID through foggy lanes toward his first house call. He reflects on whether his decision to leave London and become a country doctor was the right one. Although glad to escape the company of his upper-class in-laws, Eric has noticed his wife, Irene, seems discontented. When his neighbor, Bill Simmons, blocks the lane, Eric waits impatiently. Bill bought Water Farm shortly after Eric and Irene moved into their cottage. The locals have labelled him as a “rich man’s son playing at farming” (25).

Eric visits Mrs. Tallis, a widowed schoolmistress recovering from polymyalgia rheumatica. He watches her make tea to assess her mobility and checks for complications. His second call is to Peter Gurney, a terminally ill man whom Eric treats with diamorphine for pain, following the practice of his senior medical partner, Gabby Miklos. Eric’s final call is to a council estate, where he examines a girl with inflamed tonsils. He prescribes penicillin and gives the girl’s sister money to buy soup and ice cream.

At the surgery, Eric finds a perfumed letter from his lover and is shocked at her recklessness. Irene calls to relay a message from the psychiatric hospital. He writes “asylum” on his desk blotter.

Rita Simmons wakes at Water Farm from a dream about the Pow-Wow Club in Bristol, where she once worked with Eugene and Gloria. She gets up around 9:00 o’clock, hours after her husband, Bill, left for work. From the bathroom window, she sees a light come on in the doctor’s house across the field. She examines her stomach in the mirror, searching for signs of her pregnancy, and notices her gums bleed when she brushes her teeth.

In the kitchen, Rita warms herself by the Rayburn stove. She feeds the hens, collects the eggs, and reads Venus Plus X, a science fiction novel. She daydreams about last summer’s picnic with Bill, regretting that, since then, he has been consumed by work. Rita returns to bed exhausted.

Later, Bill comes into the bedroom and whispers Rita’s name, but she feigns sleep. When she wakes again, she selects six eggs and walks through the orchard toward the doctor’s house.

As Bill struggles with a broken gate in his field, Eric Parry’s approaching Citroën forces him to reverse his Austin Gipsy. After Eric passes, Bill feeds his cows and pony, then drives back to the farm. He checks on Drusilla, a cow about to calve, and visits the bull’s enclosure, worrying about the animal’s apparent disinterest in breeding. He recalls buying the bull for 200 guineas at Yeovil market and fears the other farmers laughed at his inexperience.

Back at the farmhouse, Bill finds the kitchen empty. He disapprovingly notes Rita’s science fiction novel by the stove, reflecting that she ignored his suggestion of reading Virginia Woolf. Bill quietly checks on Rita in the bedroom and finds her sleeping. He thinks about his lack of friends—his closest friend, Stanhope, is in South America, and his brother, Charlie, is unreliable. He remembers finding Rita’s sparse photo album, which included pictures of her army photographer father and her friend, Gloria. Gathering tools, he heads out to repair the gate.

Irene Parry feels a wave of nausea. She examines her pregnant body in the mirror, then brushes her teeth while studying a print of The Arnolfini Marriage above the basin.

Downstairs, she collects the post and is disappointed to find no letter from her sister, Veronica, who lives in America. In the kitchen, Irene consults cookbooks to plan the menu for their Boxing Day party. She thinks of her friend, Tessa, who is having an affair with a playwright.

Irene flips through old copies of Ladies' Home Journal and Jet, magazines Veronica sent. She notes that her answers to a questionnaire on marital satisfaction have recently changed. Irene becomes tearful over a UNICEF photograph of an African mother with twin babies, who is unable to feed both. After taking a call from the psychiatric hospital, she relays the message to Eric at his surgery. The doorbell rings, signaling Rita Simmons’ arrival.

Eric arrives at the psychiatric hospital, where the administrator confirms the death of 19-year-old Stephen Storey. Shortly due for discharge, Stephen died from an overdose of the chloral hydrate sleeping tablets Eric prescribed. Stephen’s mother has asked for an inquiry, and Eric will be placed under scrutiny.

Ian, the night nurse, takes Eric to view Stephen’s body. Another patient, Martin, moves aside an intimidating-looking patient who blocks their path. When Ian reveals that Martin discovered Stephen’s body, the administrator suggests Martin needs sleeping pills to stop him from roaming at night.

Eric examines Stephen’s body and estimates his time of death. Back at the surgery, he retrieves a packet of Enovid contraceptive pills, hiding it from Gabby inside a copy of The Lancet. Eric drives to his lover Alison’s house, breaking his own rule against unannounced visits. He tells her about the death by suicide and gives her the contraceptive pills with instructions. As he departs, he spots what could be Frank’s car entering the driveway.

Rita and Irene openly discuss their pregnancies, establishing that Irene’s baby is due a month earlier than Rita’s. Rita recounts her difficult childhood, living with harsh relatives on a farm during the war, then being sent to her Aunt Elsa in Bristol, who taught her to dance. She mentions her love of cinema, which she often attended with her father, an army photographer.

Rita goes to the downstairs toilet, where she experiences auditory hallucinations. The abusive voices call her a “slut” and a “child-murderer.” Rita first heard these voices as a teenager, and they have returned with her pregnancy. She composes herself and returns, saying nothing to Irene. Irene invites Rita and Bill to their Boxing Day party, and Rita accepts. Irene recounts how she met Eric at a tennis party. His Birmingham accent marked him out as different from the men in her upper-class circle, and she later learned his father worked on the railways. Rita tells the story of meeting Bill at the estate agent’s office where she was temping, and impulsively taking him to view Water Farm. She reveals that Bill’s father wanted him to become a lawyer, but Bill dropped out of his law degree at Oxford University.