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Illustration by Jackie Morris from The Book of Birds

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Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris to collaborate on major new project: ‘The Book of Birds’

Rediscover our natural world with this spellbinding book

The Lost Words

A timeless, beautifully designed gift for children and adults alike, The Lost Words is a gift that will be poured over and cherished for years to come. 
 
All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. These are the words of the natural world; Dandelion, Otter, Bramble and Acorn, all gone. A wild landscape of imagination and play is rapidly fading from our children's minds. 
 
The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration - in art and word - of nearby nature and its wonders. With acrostic spell-poems by award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrations by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book evokes the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages. 
 
*** Discover The Lost Spells, the magical companion book from the creators of a literary phenomenon. *** 
 
Praise for The Lost Words: 
 
'The most beautiful and thought-provoking book I've read this year' Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Observer 
 
'Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris have made a thing of astonishing beauty' Alex Preston, Observer 
 
'My top book of the year' Susan Hill, Spectator 
 
'Gorgeous to look at and to read. Give it to a child to bring back the magic of language - and its scope' Jeanette Winterson, Guardian

Sumptuously illustrated... the poems or nature summoning spells are indebted to Gerard Manley Hopkins with rich alliteration, word-play and compound adjectives [and] the illustrations make plants and creatures luminous against backgrounds of gold leaf

One of the most striking and poignant picture books of the season...this giant tome contains not only beautiful illustrations but a haunting series of poems that read like a summoning back of the wild...a book in which every page seems like an act of love

Sumptuous...a book combining meticulous wordcraft with exquisite illustrations deftly restores language describing the natural world to the children's lexicon... The Lost Words is a beautiful book and an important one

A breathtaking book... Jackie Morris has created something that you could spend all day looking at... This is the kind of complexity that can enthral a child as much as an adult... Refreshingly accessible, slightly magical

One of the publishing sensations of recent times is The Lost Words

My top book of the year... It is one of those children's books for ages up to 99 years. The lost words are those my generation and earlier ones used every day and which are fast disappearing, and Macfarlane's aim is to resurrect the everyday glories of our language. May he succeed

Gilded and glorious, Jackie Morris's paintings illustrate Robert Macfarlane's acrostic poems in The Lost Words, one of the years loveliest books for all ages over 10

Rapturously received celebration of nature

Macfarlane is a changemaker... he has made nature-writing populis6t and big-selling. Morris's paintings are beautiful - at once familiar and other. A contender for book of the year

Stunning . . . Addressing the disappearance of everyday nature words and a &lsquo;wild childhood&rsquo; from kids&rsquo; lives, The Lost Words celebrates the magic of the natural world in a superbly soft manner, much like an enchanting love letter to Mother Nature

Deeply reflective and gorgeously illustrated...Morris's paintings of wildlife echo the complexity and vibrancy of Macfarlane's poetry

Publisher's description. An illustrated spell-book in watercolour and gold leaf, from the rich creative minds of award-winning author Robert Macfarlane and acclaimed artist Jackie Morris. As nature vanishes from children's language and their imagination, The Lost Words stands against the loss of magic, celebrating the joy of wild childhood and wild places.

All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. Words like Dandelion, Otter, Bramble, Acorn and Lark represent the natural world of childhood, a rich landscape of discovery and imagination that is fading from children's minds. 
 
The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration of the poetry of nature words and the living glory of our distinctive, British countryside. With acrostic spell-poems by peerless wordsmith Robert Macfarlane and hand-painted illustrations by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages.

The House Without Windows

For the adventurer in your life - young or old - discover a dazzling lost classic and escape to distant shores... 
 
Eepersip is a girl with the wild in her heart. She does not want to live locked up behind the walls of a house. So she runs away - first to the Meadow, then to the Sea, and finally to the Mountain. Her heartbroken parents follow their daughter, trying to bring her home safe, but Eepersip has other ideas... 
 
Republished by Penguin with a new introduction and hand-inked illustrations by beloved artist Jackie Morris, The House Without Windows is a timeless fable about wildness, freedom and the redemptive power of the natural world. 
 
'I can safely promise joy to any reader of The House Without Windows. Perfection' Eleanor Farjeon, winner of the Carnegie Medal and The Hans Christ­ian Andersen Award 
 
'Gloriously illuminated by Jackie Morris's moving art, this is a work of strange power for our own bewildered times' Nick Drake 
 
'A classic, as miraculous and awe-inspiring as the author' Xinran, author of The Good Women of China

One of the strangest, most enchanting and mystifying stories I've read in recent years . . . It's beautiful, bonkers and brimming with the abundance and richness of nature and a life lived with no boundaries. Also Jackie's intro and illustrations provide a depth and context that only lifts the book and its story higher.

. . . Extraordinary. Deeply weird, beautiful &amp; unsettling.

The House without Windows is miraculous - a fearless odyssey into a dreamtime of wildness and enchantment. Gloriously illuminated by Jackie Morris's moving art, this is a work of strange power for our own bewildered times.

Barbara Newhall Follett (Author) Barbara Newhall Follett was an American child prodigy novelist. Born in 1914, she published her first novel, The House Without Windows, aged twelve. One year later she published another, The Voyage of the Norman D., based on her own experiences sailing round Nova Scotia without her parents at thirteen years old. Barbara Newhall Follett disappeared shortly before Christmas 1939, leaving her home with $30 in her pocket, and was never seen again. The mystery of her disappearance has never been solved. Jackie Morris (Illustrator, Introducer) Jackie Morris is the bestselling and award-winning co-creator of The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, two books which have captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers of all ages. She also illustrated and introduced a new edition of Barbara Newhall Follett's lost classic of wild literature, The House Without Windows. As an author, Jackie Morris has produced over forty beloved children's books; as an artist she has also worked with the New Statesman, Independent and Guardian, among others. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal and the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year for The Lost Words in 2018. Jackie lives in a cottage on the cliffs of Pembrokeshire, where she is now working on her forthcoming third book with long-time collaborator, Robert Macfarlane: The Book of Birds.

This is the irresistible and entirely unique story of one little girl's desire to escape into the wilderness. 
 
Little Eepersip doesn't want to live in a house with doors and windows and a roof, so she runs away to live in the wild - first in the Meadow, then by the Sea, and finally in the Mountain. Her heartbroken parents follow her, bringing her back home to 'safety' and locking her up in the stifling square of the house. But she slips away once more, following her heart into the richness of untrammelled nature and disappearing forever. 
 
First published in 1927 and written by a child of just twelve years old, The House Without Windows is an extraordinary paean to the transcendent beauty of the natural world, and the human capacity to connect with it.

Robert Macfarlane

Jackie Morris

The poems are beautiful, insightful and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny; and together with the vivid artwork, wild creatures are brought to life. A beautiful volume sure to be treasured by nature lovers of all ages.

The most beautiful and thought-provoking book I've read this year

Gorgeous to look at and to read. Give it to a child to bring back the magic and scope of language

A breathtaking book. Jackie Morris has created something that you could spend all day looking at... Accessible and magical

Gilded and glorious, one of the year's loveliest books for all ages over 10

An enchanting, beautiful book for lovers of the natural world

Kindred in spirit to The Lost Words but new in form, The Lost Spells is a pocket-sized treasure, a new collection of 'spells' - acrostic poetry and artwork - by beloved creative duo Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. 
 
Written to be read aloud, calling to forest, field, riverbank, ocean, and also to the heart, these 'spells' summon back what is often lost from sight and care, and inspire protection and action on behalf of the natural world. From Jay to Jackdaw, Oak to Barn Owl, Silver Birch to Grey Seal, they capture the special, individual spirit of each plant and creature. Above all, they celebrate a sense of wonder, bearing witness to nature's power to amaze, console and bring joy.

Jackie Morris

Praise for The Lost Spells

The poems are beautiful, insightful and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny; and together with the vivid artwork, wild creatures are brought to life. A beautiful volume sure to be treasured by nature lovers of all ages.

The most beautiful and thought-provoking book I've read this year

Gorgeous to look at and to read. Give it to a child to bring back the magic and scope of language

The poems are beautiful, insightful and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny; and together with the vivid artwork, wild creatures are brought to life. A beautiful volume sure to be treasured by nature lovers of all ages.

The most beautiful and thought-provoking book I've read this year

Gorgeous to look at and to read. Give it to a child to bring back the magic and scope of language

The poems are beautiful, insightful and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny; and together with the vivid artwork, wild creatures are brought to life. A beautiful volume sure to be treasured by nature lovers of all ages.

The most beautiful and thought-provoking book I've read this year

Gorgeous to look at and to read. Give it to a child to bring back the magic and scope of language

Books by Jackie Morris

Articles featuring Jackie Morris

The Penguin books that challenged our view of the environment

Short audiobooks you can enjoy in one sitting

Uplifting climate books to inspire hope about the planet’s future

Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris to collaborate on major new project: ‘The Book of Birds’

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