The Battle Of Pollocks Crossing

An English teacher bites off more than he can chew when he ventures to the American Midwest to broaden his horizons In J.L. Carr’s quirky comic novel.

When George Gidner, teacher at Balaclava Road Elementary School, Bradford, has an opportunity to spend a year teaching in America, he can’t believe his luck. But Palisades, South Dakota, is a Depression-struck outpost of mind-numbing awfulness in the middle of nowhere: a place where more than a few American dreams are rapidly becoming nightmares - and one of them is the Battle of Pollocks Crossing.

J.L. Carr started writing full-time relatively late in life, at the age of 55. In 1967, having already written two novels, Carr retired from his job as a teacher to devote himself to writing. His novel A Month in the Country won the Guardian Fiction Prize, was shortlisted for the 1980 Booker Prize, and was made into a memorable film.