A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

Recommended by someone in the UVa bookstore when I asked for a book by Bernard MacLaverty.  The story is set in Yorkshire — Oxgodby is the name of the village — and is the story of a World War I veteran who is hired to remove the paint covering a medieval mural (fresco??) in a small church.  Reliving times in the old England is a great part of this book.  I learned a bit about the difference between "church" (Church of England, I presume) and "chapel."  The latter is for the working folks and apparently they have lay preaching and in many ways are not "refined."  Tom, who is the art restorer, grows much healthier during his stay, and though he is an unbeliever, makes wonderful connections with folks in chapel, another person hired for an excavation near the church, and the wife of the rather unpleasant vicar.  It is a little jewel of a book.