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Big Pig, Little Pig

Big Pig, Little Pig

A Year on a Smallholding in South-West France

Summary

As heard on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week

'A delightful and entertaining memoir' Woman and Home

When Jacqueline moves to south-west France with her husband, she embraces rural village life and buys two pigs to rear for slaughter. But as she gets to know the animals better, her English sentimentality threatens to get in the way and she begins to wonder if she can actually bring herself to kill them. This is a memoir about that fateful decision, but it's also about the ethics of meat eating in the modern age, and whether we should know, respect and even love the animals we eat.

At its heart, this book is a love story, exploring the increasing attachment of the author for her particular pigs, and celebrating the enduring closeness of humans and pigs over the centuries.

Reviews

  • By turn, poignant, funny, educational and, yes, brutal . . . Yallop's skill lies in blending autobiography with lyrical nature writing.
    Radio Times

About the author

Jacqueline Yallop

Jacqueline Yallop is the author of three critically acclaimed novels and two works of non-fiction. Jacqueline teaches Creative Writing at the University of Aberystwyth, and divides her time between the UK and south-west France.
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