The place that provides the setting for Morning Songs is central to the lives of two of its characters, Esther and Toby Sutherland, and it is a place that draws their son Ned back to it many times. Like the family itself, it continues to be a source of affection, disaffection, and perplexity for him as he departs from it and returns to it over the years. The novel’s title is derived from a passage in “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas, a poem that celebrates a youngster’s joy in the experiences of country life. The novel recalls such joys but recounts as well the troubled circutances from which such green and golden moments often must arise.