(1874) a novel by Thomas HARDY about people living in a country village in the west of England during VICTORIAN times. The title of the book, which HARDY took from a famous poem by Thomas GRAY, is often used as a phrase to mean the peacefulness and quietness of the country.
(1963) a novel by John Le Carré about a British SPY (= someone whose job it is to find out secret information about another country) in EAST GERMANY who wants to go back to the West