meet rufus wade: young, handsome, intelligent and holding down a well-paid job in advertising. all should be well with rufus, but it is not. bored with living and working in london, and in search of a simpler, more physical existence in the open air, he chucks in his job, ditches his fiancée and sets off for wiltshire. at a farm on the edge of salisbury plain he meets pip mendel and his girlfriend ruth, who are living exactly the sort of life that rufus wants. so he moves in with them, and is blissfully happy for a while. but when mendel becomes violently resentful of the growing attraction between rufus and ruth, the simple life turns sour, with dramatic repercussions for all three of them. invigorating and amusing, simple life is also a thoughtful exploration of some aspects of english life in the 1930s. praise for simple life: 'a graphic and interesting book' - cyril connolly, new statesman 'funny and exhilarating' - sunday times 'a great pleasure to read' - daily telegraph