Goat

Right now you can read The Fountain in the Forest in synch with the French Republican Calendar. I started posting daily updates here and on Twitter on Monday 2 March, and these will continue for the next twenty-seven days.

Conversion between the Republican and Gregorian Calendars is imprecise, but by common reckoning (i.e. Charles-Gilbert Romme’s rule for calculating leap years) today’s date 4 March 2020 converts to Quintidi 15 Ventôse CCXXVIII in the Revolutionary Calendar. Factoring in Fabre d’Eglantine’s system of everyday rural imagery, 15 Ventôse CCXXVIII and Chapter 3 of the novel are dedicated to the goat.

To celebrate here are two versions of the great Larry Marshall’s rocksteady and reggae classic ‘Nanny Goat’.

The original 1968 Studio One 7″:

A 1977 12″ version by Larry Marshall & Trinity:

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Buy The Fountain in the Forest from the Waterstones site, to ‘click and collect’ from your local branch