A conversation with author Michael J. Richards about writing, history, and the echoes of a generation forever changed.
Sometimes a story begins where personal memory meets historical reality. This is the case with Land for a Lost Generation, the debut novel of Michael J. Richards, which follows three young women leaving their independent boarding school in the summer of 1918 and stepping into a world reshaped by war and uncertainty.
The novel traces two turbulent decades marked by social change, economic hardship, and a quiet but profound loss that shaped an entire generation. Why did so many women remain unmarried? What happened to rural life in the interwar years? And why is the agricultural depression of the 1920s and 1930s so little known? These questions lie at the heart of the book.
In our interview, the author shares how a childhood observation grew into a full novel, why he first wrote the story in longhand, and what he uncovered about Britain’s forgotten farming crisis. He also reflects on the lessons the past still offers—about agriculture, resilience, and political responsibility.
A conversation about writing, history, and the echoes of a generation forever changed.
What was your writing process for the book?
My writing process for the novel was to write the text in longhand before typing it on a word processor.
Do you have any other books published? Are you currently working on another book?
Land for a Lost Generation is my first book. I am currently writing another book entitled Farming: its Role in the Green Agenda, which will include photographs. I have another novel planned for the future.
What inspired you to write and share this story?
When I was a child, I was struck by the fact that a disproportionate number of ladies of a certain age had remained unmarried. It was explained to me that this was because so many men had perished during the First World War. Despite being classified as a key worker during the Covid lockdown, I found myself with more free time than I had experienced hitherto.
Are there any unique features in the book?
I doubt that there are any unique features in my book. An old friend who is a history graduate, however, confessed that he had no prior knowledge of the interwar agricultural depression until he read my book. He said that he was blown away by it!
Are your characters entirely fictional, or are they inspired by real people?
All the characters in my book are fictional, although it is perhaps inevitable that they may, to some extent, be reflected through people I have met over several decades.
Is there a special significance to the title?
Yes, there is a special significance to the title. “Land” refers not only to our nation but also to agricultural land. “Lost” refers not only to the human losses during the Great War but also to the loss suffered by one particular generation of women and the loss of prosperity in the countryside which extended to a nationwide economic depression in the 1930s.
Is it an unpalatable fact that the man who did more than any other in the twentieth century to rescue the fortunes of British farming was Adolf Hitler?
Sadly, I agree.
Do the British public realise that farmers cannot set the price of their produce based on production cost but have to accept world market prices?
In my experience, many people do not.
Is it true that a dictator cannot be tamed through a policy of appeasement?
History suggests that dictators are only motivated to alter course through threat of superior force.
In an uncertain world, is it not the responsibility of any government to protect its agriculture through a policy of food security?
Undoubtedly, yes. The lessons of 1939 should not be forgotten.
Thank you for the interview.
About the Book
Title: »Land for a Lost Generation«, Michael J. Richards
Author: Michael J. Richards
Content: Land for a Lost Generation follows the lives of three women who leave their independent boarding school in the summer of 1918. The novel charts their course through twenty years of social and economic upheaval in a time of massive change.
About the Author
Michael J. Richards was born in 1945 at Hastings into a world just recovering from the depredations of the Second World War. He grew up in the East Sussex countryside near Eastbourne and was educated at the University of Sussex and Brighton Polytechnic. He worked as a grammar school Mathematics teacher in the United Kingdom before teaching Mathematics and Physics at a military establishment in the Middle East. Having made money in property he purchased 400 acres of bare farmland in his native East Sussex and created a new farm. In the field of writing Michael is mostly interested in socio-economic and political change and how they affect ordinary people particularly with regard to agriculture. He lives on his Sussex farm where he enjoys being at one with nature, gardening and writing.