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Reading lists

Short audiobooks you can enjoy in one sitting

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

A collage image of multiple audiobook covers on a bright pink background.

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The best audiobooks of 2021

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The greatest walks in literature

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Which Robert Macfarlane books to read after Underland

Illustration by Jackie Morris from The Book of Birds

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News

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

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Features

The stories behind the notebooks that documented Rob MacFarlane’s travels underground

Robert Macfarlane on working with artist Stanley Donwood

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Robert Macfarlane on creating the cover of Underland with artist Stanley Donwood

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Interviews

The making of a modern ‘spell-book’

30 Reflections from Exploring on Foot

Writers on Walks: A BBC Radio 3 Collection

22 writers talk about their memorable excursions and the act of walking, and share their creative observations 
 
In these six series, taken from BBC Radio 3's The Essay, an array of novelists, poets, journalists and biographers chart the varied and inspiring walks they have taken around Britain and elsewhere. Here are treks taken at daybreak and after dark; in winter and in spring; in the footsteps of the past; and - in the case of Robert Macfarlane - along the ridges of the South Downs. 
 
Dawnwalks and Night Walks find Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Sansom, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Owen Sheers, Janice Galloway and John Walsh taking early morning and late-night strolls around locations ranging from their back garden and local cemetery to Manhattan, Paris, Tasmania and the Antarctic. 
 
Springwalks and Winterwalks feature Michele Roberts, Ross Raisin, John Walsh, Kirsty Gunn, Philip Hoare, Deborah Levy, Christopher Hope, Scarlett Thomas, Erica Wagner and Owen Sheers, as they sample the transforming qualities of spring and the wonders of winter. From Poland and the Languedoc to Hampstead Heath and the Yorkshire Wolds, they delight in the details of the landscape and reflect on what it means to them. 
 
Strange Strolls sees Jenn Ashworth, Michael Donkor, Stephanie Victoire, Nat Segnit and Sophie Coulombeau embarking on walks of entertaining eccentricity, revisiting favourite places including Wandsworth Bridge, the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia and Ibiza. 
 
And in A Five-Day Journey, Robert Macfarlane walks the length of the South Downs in monsoon rain and in sunshine, discovering its chalk trails and its ghosts. He ponders the relationship between paths and stories; explores the poet Edward Thomas' love affair with tracks; considers the concept of the Aboriginal Australian songline; re-imagines the life of artist Eric Ravilious; and contemplates the sometimes eerie relationship between walking, collecting and creation. 
 
Intimate, evocative and immersive, these 30 uplifting programmes transport us to a wealth of wonderful places, and offer fascinating personal insight into the inner worlds of our walker-writers. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Duncan Minshull, Ciaran Bermingham and Tim Dee 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 
 
Dawnwalks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 28 March 2016 
Nicola Barker 29 March 2016 
Kamila Shamsie 30 March 2016 
Ian Sansom 31 March 2016 
Lucy Hughes-Hallett 1 April 2016 
 
Night Walks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 27 October 2008 
Owen Sheers 28 October 2008 
Janice Galloway 29 October 2008 
Kamila Shamsie 30 October 2008 
John Walsh 31 October 2008 
 
Springwalks 
Michele Roberts in Poznan 31 March 2014 
Ross Raisin in the Yorkshire Wolds 1 April 2014 
John Walsh 2 April 2014 
Kirsty Gunn in Sutherland 3 April 2014 
Philip Hoare in Sholing 4 April 2014 
 
Winterwalks 
Deborah Levy on Hampstead Heath 18 February 2013 
Christopher Hope in Languedoc 19 February 2013 
Scarlett Thomas 20 February 2013 
Erica Wagner 21 February 2013 
Owen Sheers in Poland 22 February 2013 
 
Strange Strolls 
Jenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston 10 February 2020 
Michael Donkor - On Westminster Bridge 11 February 2020 
Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls 12 February 2020 
Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza 13 February 2020 
Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda 14 February 2020 
 
A Five-Day Journey 
Marking 2 November 2009 
Haunting 3 November 2009 
Singing 4 November 2009 
Flying 5 November 2009 
Collecting 6 November 2009 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Robert Macfarlane (Author) Robert Macfarlane is internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His bestselling books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe. He has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationally bestselling books of nature-poetry and art, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. As a lyricist and performer, he has written albums and songs with musicians including Cosmo Sheldrake, Karine Polwart and Johnny Flynn, with whom he has released two albums, Lost In The Cedar Wood (2021) and The Moon Also Rises (2023). In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2022 in Toronto he was the inaugural winner of the Weston International Award for a body of work in the field of non-fiction. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is currently completing his third book with Jackie Morris: The Lost Birds. Deborah Levy (Author) Deborah Levy was born in 1969, studied theatre at Dartington College of Arts, and now lives in London. Her plays include Pax, which City Limits considred 'remarkable for its combination of intellectual rigour, poetic fantasy and visual imagination' and Heresies for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 'An ambitious, imaginative, sometimes funny, sometimes touching, passage across a terrain where moral parables and folk fancies meet' (Marina Warner, Independent). She has also published a collection of short stories, Ophelia and the Great Idea, and a novel, Beautiful Mutants, and, most recently, Swallowing Geography, all of which are published by Vintage. Kamila Shamsie (Author) Kamila Shamsie is the author of eight novels, which have been translated into over 30 languages. Her novels include Home Fire (2018) which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and was long listed for the Man Booker Prize, Burnt Shadows which won the Premio Boccaccio in Italy, and A God in Every Stone which won the Anisfield-Wolf Award. She grew up in Karachi, has an MFA from the University of Manchester in Amherst, and now lives in London. Lucy Hughes-Hallett (Author) Lucy Hughes-Hallett is a cultural historian and critic. She is the author of Cleopatra, Queen, Lover, Legend and of Heroes: Saviours, Traitors and Supermen. She reviews regularly for the Sunday Times Books Section. Ross Raisin (Author) Ross Raisin is the author of three novels: A Natural, Waterline and God's Own Country, which was shortlisted for nine literary awards. Ross has won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award and was named on Granta's most recent Best of Young British Novelists list. In 2018 he was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Literature. 
Ross teaches at the University of Leeds, for the Guardian Masterclass programme and for the education charity First Story. He lives in York. Find more on Ross, his books and teaching here: www.rossraisin.com Nicholas Shakespeare (Author) Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1957. The son of a diplomat, much of his youth was spent in the Far East and South America. His books have been translated into twenty-two languages. They include The Vision of Elena Silves (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Snowleg, The Dancer Upstairs, Inheritance, Priscilla, Six Minutes in May and acclaimed biographies of Bruce Chatwin and Ian Fleming. His most recent thriller featuring John Dyer was The Sandpit. He has been longlisted for the Booker Prize twice, was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Nat Segnit (Author) Nat Segnit's investigations into the human impulse to withdraw took him to India, Greece, the US and the Arctic Circle, until unforeseen circumstances forced his own retreat, along with the rest of humanity. He has written for the New Yorker, Harper's, 1843 magazine and the TLS, and regularly writes and broadcasts for BBC Radio 4. Retreat is his second book. Erica Wagner (Author) Erica Wagner is an author and journalist, born in New York City, but a resident of London. She attended Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, where she was taught by Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. She went on to become the Literary Editor of The Times from 1996 to 2013. 
 
Erica is the author of Gravity (1997), a collection of short stories; Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters (2000); and Seizure (2007). As well as editing First Light she is working on a new book, The Chief Engineer: A Biography of Washington Roebling, the Man Who Built Brooklyn Bridge. 
 
She has judged many literary prizes, including the Orange Prize, Whitbread First Novel Prize, Forward Prize for poetry and twice the Man Booker Prize. Nicola Barker (Author) Nicola Barker was born in Ely in 1966 and spent part of her childhood in South Africa. She is the author of twelve novels – including Wide Open, Darkmans, The Yips and In the Approaches – and two short story collections. She has been twice longlisted and once shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, has won the IMPAC, the John Llewellyn Rhys and the Hawthornden Prizes, and was named one of Granta’s 20 Best Young British Writers in 2003. Her latest novel, H(A)PPY, won the 2017 Goldsmiths Prize and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018.

A BBC nature collection

Go Wild

22 BBC radio programmes celebrating the great outdoors, introduced by Harriet Noble 
 
Spending time in nature is good for both our bodies and minds - but with our hectic lives (not to mention the unreliable British weather), it can be hard to get outside as much as we'd like. But fear not: we've selected some of BBC Radio 4's best nature documentaries to transport you to the great outdoors - and encourage you to take your own trip into the wild. 
 
Discover the tranquility of canoeing down the River Waveney; go rambling in the countryside with Clare Balding; explore al fresco cooking with the Food Programme team and learn the history of Cornwall's colourful flower fields. Or why not go surfing in Scotland, off-grid in Wales or on a journey of a lifetime with Paralympian cyclist Karen Darke? 
 
These captivating programmes will let you experience the sights and sounds of nature - from an oak woodland to a rainforest canopy and a rock pool - and introduce you to some remarkable naturalists, such as filmmaker Roger Deakin, author Robert Macfarlane, pioneering ornithologist Emma Turner, writer and poet Nan Shepherd, and perfumer and mountain photographer Walter Poucher. 
 
Whether you're an intrepid explorer, a weekend micro-adventurer or simply a nature lover, you're sure to be inspired - so step away from your screen, get out into the open air and enjoy the beauty of the natural world. 
 
 
Contents 
 
Cigarette on the Waveney - presented by Roger Deakin 
 
Ramblings: In Search of the Old Ways with Robert Macfarlane - presented by Clare Balding 
 
Open Country: Nan Shepherd's Cairngorms - presented by Helen Mark 
 
The Food Programme: Outdoor Cooking - presented by Sheila Dillon and Simon Parkes 
 
One to One: Isabel Hardman on nature and depression 
 
Ramblings: George Monbiot in search of the wild - presented by Clare Balding 
 
The Life Scientific: Sky at Night with Maggie Aderin-Pocock- presented by Jim Al-Khalili 
 
Open Country: Off Grid in Mid-Wales - presented by Ian Marchant 
 
A Guide to Coastal Wildlife: Rock Pools - presented by Brett Westwood and Phil Gates 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
Soundstage: The Oak Woodland 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
Costing the Earth: Cycle City - presented by Tom Heap 
 
Open Country: Surfing on Scotland's North Coast - presented by Helen Mark 
 
Journey of a Lifetime - Karen Darke: From Source to Sea via Me 
 
Nature: The Rainforest Canopy 
Recorded by wildlife cameraman John Aitchison 
 
Nature: Emma Turner - A Life in the Reeds 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
The Flower Fields - presented by Michael Bird 
 
The Perfumed Mountaineer - presented by Hayden Lorimer 
 
Living World: Winter Seashore - presented by Trai Anfield 
 
Open Country: The Boat Builders of Pin Mill - presented by Helen Mark 
 
Ramblings: Bonding Walks: Stiperstones, Shropshire - presented by Clare Balding 
 
Open Country: Somerset Wassail - presented by Helen Mark 
 
Winter Starlings 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Clare Balding (Author) CLARE BALDING is an award-winning writer and broadcaster who has been at the forefront of sports presentation since 1998. She has been a key anchor at seven Olympic and six Paralympic Games as well as multiple Commonwealth Games and Winter Olympics. She was awarded a special BAFTA in 2012 for her work at the London Olympics and Paralympics. In 2023, she took over as the lead BBC TV presenter at Wimbledon. She was a key commentator on the BBC's television coverage of King Charles III's Coronation in 2023 and for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee coverage in 2022. She has presented the television coverage of Crufts for nearly two decades and Lost Dogs Live on Channel 5, which helps reunite missing dogs with their owners. During most of her childhood she thought she was a dog and has tried to live with the mentality of a Labrador puppy: be pleased to see everyone and treat every new task as an exciting adventure. Her first book, My Animals and Other Family, was published in 2012 and won the National Book Award for biography of the year. In 2013, she was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List and in 2023 received a CBE for services to sport and charity in the Queen's final Honours List. Robert Macfarlane (Author, Reader) Robert Macfarlane is internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His bestselling books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe. He has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationally bestselling books of nature-poetry and art, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. As a lyricist and performer, he has written albums and songs with musicians including Cosmo Sheldrake, Karine Polwart and Johnny Flynn, with whom he has released two albums, Lost In The Cedar Wood (2021) and The Moon Also Rises (2023). In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2022 in Toronto he was the inaugural winner of the Weston International Award for a body of work in the field of non-fiction. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is currently completing his third book with Jackie Morris: The Lost Birds. Roger Deakin (Reader) Roger Deakin, who died in 2006, was a writer, filmmaker and environmentalist of international renown. He was a founder member of Friends of the Earth, and co-founded Common Ground. He lived for thirty-eight years in a moated farmhouse in Suffolk. Waterlog, which was first published in 1999, became a word-of-mouth bestseller, and is now an established classic of the nature writing canon. Clare Balding (Reader) When she was young, Clare Balding thought she was a dog. Disappointed to discover she was only human, she did her best to spend every waking hour with dogs and ponies. She could ride before she could walk and, growing up surrounded by racehorses trained by her father, she dreamt of winning the Grand National or riding for Great Britain at the Olympics. Those dreams never came true but the consolation prize hasn't been bad. As a television and radio presenter, Clare has worked at six Olympic Games, the highlight being London 2012, as well as the Winter Olympics, Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, the Grand National, Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup. Clare lives in London with her wife, Alice, their dog Archie and their cat, Button. Jim Al-Khalili (Reader) Professor Jim Al-Khalili, OBE FRS, is a physicist, author and broadcaster based at the University of Surrey. He received his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics in 1989 and has published over a hundred research papers on quantum physics. 
His many popular science books have been translated into twenty-six languages. He is a recipient of the Royal Michael Faraday medal and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal. 
In 2016 he received the inaugural Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication. He lives in Southsea, Hampshire, with his wife Julie. Tom Heap (Reader) Tom Heap is the creator and presenter of BBC Radio's flagship climate change podcast '39 Ways to Save the Planet'. He is also a regular presenter on BBC1's Countryfile specialising in the more investigative films and has made many BBC Panorama documentaries on food, energy and the environment. Tom also hosts BBC Radio 4's regular environment series 'Costing the Earth'. For fun he likes to ride bikes, chop wood, watch films, grow chillies and bodge carpentry.

22 BBC radio programmes celebrating the great outdoors, introduced by Harriet Noble 
 
Spending time in nature is good for both our bodies and minds - but with our hectic lives (not to mention the unreliable British weather), it can be hard to get outside as much as we'd like. But fear not: we've selected some of BBC Radio 4's best nature documentaries to transport you to the great outdoors - and encourage you to take your own trip into the wild. 
 
Discover the tranquility of canoeing down the River Waveney; go rambling in the countryside with Clare Balding; explore al fresco cooking with the Food Programme team and learn the history of Cornwall's colourful flower fields. Or why not go surfing in Scotland, off-grid in Wales or on a journey of a lifetime with Paralympian cyclist Karen Darke? 
 
These captivating programmes will let you experience the sights and sounds of nature - from an oak woodland to a rainforest canopy and a rock pool - and introduce you to some remarkable naturalists, such as filmmaker Roger Deakin, author Robert Macfarlane, pioneering ornithologist Emma Turner, writer and poet Nan Shepherd, and perfumer and mountain photographer Walter Poucher. 
 
Whether you're an intrepid explorer, a weekend micro-adventurer or simply a nature lover, you're sure to be inspired - so step away from your screen, get out into the open air and enjoy the beauty of the natural world. 
 
 
Contents 
 
Cigarette on the Waveney - presented by Roger Deakin 
 
Ramblings: In Search of the Old Ways with Robert Macfarlane - presented by Clare Balding 
 
Open Country: Nan Shepherd's Cairngorms - presented by Helen Mark 
 
The Food Programme: Outdoor Cooking - presented by Sheila Dillon and Simon Parkes 
 
One to One: Isabel Hardman on nature and depression 
 
Ramblings: George Monbiot in search of the wild - presented by Clare Balding 
 
The Life Scientific: Sky at Night with Maggie Aderin-Pocock- presented by Jim Al-Khalili 
 
Open Country: Off Grid in Mid-Wales - presented by Ian Marchant 
 
A Guide to Coastal Wildlife: Rock Pools - presented by Brett Westwood and Phil Gates 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
Soundstage: The Oak Woodland 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
Costing the Earth: Cycle City - presented by Tom Heap 
 
Open Country: Surfing on Scotland's North Coast - presented by Helen Mark 
 
Journey of a Lifetime - Karen Darke: From Source to Sea via Me 
 
Nature: The Rainforest Canopy 
Recorded by wildlife cameraman John Aitchison 
 
Nature: Emma Turner - A Life in the Reeds 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
The Flower Fields - presented by Michael Bird 
 
The Perfumed Mountaineer - presented by Hayden Lorimer 
 
Living World: Winter Seashore - presented by Trai Anfield 
 
Open Country: The Boat Builders of Pin Mill - presented by Helen Mark 
 
Ramblings: Bonding Walks: Stiperstones, Shropshire - presented by Clare Balding 
 
Open Country: Somerset Wassail - presented by Helen Mark 
 
Winter Starlings 
Sound recordist: Chris Watson 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Lost Sounds

Brought to you by Penguin. 
 
Woodland, moorland, sea... Great Britain is home to vast array of beautiful natural settings, each with its own unique sounds. 
 
The award-winning audiobook for The Lost Words and its sister, The Lost Spells, showcased the immersive power of a natural soundscape. Compiled by renowned wildlife recordist, Chris Watson, these soundscapes acted as the backdrop and setting for beautiful spells, whilst possessing an energy and life of their own. 
 
Now, these aural glimpses into the natural world, be it an adder in grass or an egret submerging into the swell of the ocean, are brought together to star in their own right. Complemented by a foreword from renowned writer Robert Macfarlane, beautiful artwork by Jackie Morris and a fascinating 'making of' interview with sound recordist Chris Watson, The Lost Sounds is an immersive natural listening experience, taking reader across the UK through the sounds of nature. 
 
© Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris, Chris Watson 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Woodland, moorland, sea... Great Britain is home to vast array of beautiful natural settings, each with its own unique sounds. 
 
The award-winning audiobook for The Lost Words and its sister, The Lost Spells, showcased the immersive power of a natural soundscape. Compiled by renowned wildlife recordist, Chris Watson, these soundscapes acted as the backdrop and setting for beautiful spells, whilst possessing an energy and life of their own. 
 
Now, these aural glimpses into the natural world, be it an adder in grass or an egret submerging into the swell of the ocean, are brought together to star in their own right. Complemented by a foreword from renowned writer Robert Macfarlane, beautiful artwork by Jackie Morris and a fascinating 'making of' interview with sound recordist Chris Watson, The Lost Sounds is an immersive natural listening experience, taking reader across the UK through the sounds of nature.

Ness

Eerie, unsettling and hauntingly beautiful - a new collaboration from the bestselling creators of Holloway, Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood 
 
 'Ness goes beyond what we expect books to do. Beyond poetry, beyond the word, beyond the bomb -- it is an aftertime song' Max Porter, Booker-longlisted author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers 
 
 Somewhere on a salt-and-shingle island, inside a ruined concrete structure known as The Green Chapel, a figure called The Armourer is leading a ritual with terrible intent. But something is coming to stop him. 
 
 Five more-than-human forms are traversing land, sea and time towards The Green Chapel, moving to the point where they will converge and become Ness. Ness has lichen skin and willow-bones. Ness is made of tidal drift, green moss and deep time. Ness has hagstones for eyes and speaks only in birds. And Ness has come to take this island back. 
 
 What happens when land comes to life? What would it take for land to need to come to life? 
 
Using word and image, the pair have together made a minor modern myth. Part-novella, part-prose-poem, part-mystery play, in Ness their skills combine to dazzling, troubling effect. 
 
 Robert Macfarlane is the author of The Lost Words with Jackie Morris, The Old Ways and Underland. Stanley Donwood is an artist and the author of Slowly Downward, Household Worms and Bad Island.

Ness goes beyond what we expect books to do. Beyond poetry, beyond the word, beyond the bomb - it is an aftertime song. It is dark, ever so dark, nimble and lethal. It is a triumphant libretto of mythic modernism for our poisoned age. Ness is something else, and feels like it always has been.

What happens when the land comes to life? 
 
Somewhere on a salt-and-shingle island, inside a concrete-and-iron structure called The Green Chapel, a figure called The Armourer is leading a black mass. He plans to detonate a thermonuclear missile. But something is coming to stop him. 
 
Five more-than-human figures - or forms, or forces - are traversing the landscape, moving steadily towards a point where they will converge and become Ness. Ness is the land awakened. Ness is lichen skin and willow-bones, condensing mist and tidal drift. Ness has hagstones for eyes and Ness speaks only in birds. And Ness has come to take this island back.

A 100 Postcard Box Set

The Wild Cards

A beautiful companion set to the award-winning and internationally beloved phenomena, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, adults and children alike will love receiving, sending and displaying The Wild Cards 
 
'Breathtaking and magical. Jackie Morris has created something that you could spend all day looking at' New Statesman 
 
'Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris have made a thing of astonishing beauty' Observer 
 
Discover and share the wonders of the wild world as seen in The Lost Words and The Lost Spells... 
 
This collection of 100 postcards features artwork and words from two beloved modern classics, in which Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane celebrate the creatures, trees and plants of nearby nature, from Acorn to Wren, by way of Curlew and Kingfisher, Silver Birch and Snow Hare, Goldfinch and Gorse. 
 
The front of each card bears one of Morris's Greenaway Medal-winning paintings; on the reverse, you will find an accompanying quotation from one of the spell-poems in the Lost books, as well as an identification of the species shown on the card. The remaining space is left blank for you to fill in these wild cards with pen, pencil or paint - and then send them out into the world to make and renew connections.

In 2017 Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris broke the mould with The Lost Words, a book of paintings in watercolour and gold leaf accompanied by acrostic spell-poems, capturing the unique essence of common but underappreciated species like Otter, Acorn, Ivy and Heron, Willow and Kingfisher. The response from readers was truly extraordinary: an instant bestseller, it inspired people of all ages all over the world, prompting mass fundraising campaigns to donate copies, and adaptations into folksong, symphony, theatre, puppetry, dance and mural. Three years later the creative duo delighted fans with a second title, The Lost Spells, celebrating the spirit of Red Fox, Silver Birch, Swallow, Jackdaw, and more. 
 
The Wild Cards draws together 100 pieces of artwork from The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. Every named species from the books is pictured at least once; many appear several times, though each postcard image is unique. The series also depicts many plants and animals not named in the original books - hidden details for the keen-eyed aficionado to discover - such as Blackbird, Stag and Rowan. On the reverse of the cards is an accompanying line of spell-text along with an identification of the depicted species. They have been otherwise left blank, their space waiting to be filled in by pen, pencil or paint and sent out into the world to make and renew connections.

An enchanting, beautiful book for lovers of the natural world

The Lost Spells

Beautiful books make unforgettable gifts. This pocket-sized treasure is the perfect present for fans of nature, language and rich artwork, adult and child alike! 
 
Kindred in spirit to The Lost Words but fresh in its form, The Lost Spells introduces a beautiful new set of natural spell-poems and artwork by beloved creative duo Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. 
 
Each "spell" conjures an animal, bird, tree or flower -- from Barn Owl to Red Fox, Grey Seal to Silver Birch, Jay to Jackdaw -- with which we share our lives and landscapes. Moving, joyful and funny, The Lost Spells above all celebrates a sense of wonder, bearing witness to nature's power to amaze, console and bring joy. 
 
Written to be read aloud, painted in brushstrokes that call to the forest, field, riverbank and also to the heart, The Lost Spells summons back what is often lost from sight and care, teaching the names of everyday species, and inspiring its readers to attention, love and care. 
 
'Luminously beautiful. An amulet in dark times, to be carried like a talisman out into the world, where it is very much needed' Dara McAnulty 
 
'A book about spells that succeeds in being spell-binding in its own right . . . It already feels like a true classic. Buy one copy for yourself and any others for as many children as you can afford' Books for Keeps

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

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.

Robert Macfarlane

Everyone who has ever found something to love in a river should find something to love in this book. It is a masterpiece

One of the big publishing events (if not the biggest) of 2025 – a new book by Robert Macfarlane . . . Personal as well as political, it’s almost as certain to shift readerly perspectives as it is to be a bestseller

Observer, ‘Nonfiction to look forward to in 2025’

The book is a delight . . . So stirring, so surprising, so acute

Is a River Alive? is a powerful synthesis of literature, activism and ethics, reshaping the way we perceive the natural world

The narrative pull is strong in this book. I kept wanting to go back to it. Macfarlane has yet again demonstrated his genius as an author in creating a book that is alive, that has personality, that talked to me. I was sad when it ended. It has flowed into my daily thoughts ever since, much like a river continues to flow into the sea

Macfarlane confronts the realities of the living, beating heart of the riverine world…With crystalline clarity and force, Macfarlane confronts the gross failure of our existing laws to protect rivers from harm… Such ideas are brought to life by the quality of the writing, the evocation of mood and place, the raw smells and energies that accompany Macfarlane, whether on a gentle walk into a Cambridge wood, or hurtling with mortal speed down a Canadian rapid

It will change the way you think about rivers, and in turn, nature herself

Impassioned and invigorating . . . Macfarlane is erudite and eclectic, and, though charismatic, doesn’t press his presence upon you. His books are adventurous, often involving truly remarkable companions; and at the sentence level no one could accuse him of painting by numbers . . .

A rich and visionary work of immense beauty. Macfarlane is a memory keeper. What is broken in our societies, he mends with words. Rarely does a book hold such power, passion, and poetry in its exploration of nature. Read this to feel inspired, moved, and ultimately, alive

Is A River Alive? is fiercely intelligent, slightly self-deprecating and luminously written

‘Engages imaginatively with important debates and makes a compelling case that understanding the "aliveness" of rivers should matter to us all

This book is a beautiful, wild exploration of an ancient idea: that rivers are living participants in a living world. Robert Macfarlane’s astonishing telling of the lives of three rivers reveals how these vital flow forms have the power not only to shape and reshape the planet, but also our thoughts, feelings, and worldviews. Is a River Alive? is a breathtaking work that speaks powerfully to this moment of crisis and transformation

This book is itself a river of poetic prose, an invitation to get onboard and float through the rapids of encounters with places and people, the eddies of ideas, to navigate the resurgence of Indigenous worldviews through three extraordinary journeys recounted with a vividness that lifts readers out of themselves and into these waterscapes. Read it for pleasure, read it for illumination, read it for confirmation that our world is changing in wonderful as well as terrible ways

Our first-ever non-fiction top pick, this exquisitely written book will transport you to remarkable places and people . . . A riveting blend of cultural and natural history, part travelogue, part reportage, that’s full of wild, wise and gentle souls dedicated to preserving the rights of nature

Profound and playful, revelatory and realistic, intimate and epic, humble and absolutely huge – this supremely enjoyable masterpiece will change the world

In answering this essential question of matter or life-force, Macfarlane has created a braided, roaring and brilliant book that is a true landmark in more-than-human writing . . . A personal and beautifully poetic polemic, this may be Macfarlane’s best book yet

Shattering and sublime, Is a River Alive? offers a question, an answer, and perhaps the greatest challenge and opportunity of our times: to accept our place in the mesh of things and act accordingly in the interests of the whole

Is A River Alive? is a beautifully written, poetic testament to the vitality of the Earth and the forms of politics that can be based upon that premise

Vital in every sense of the word: the culmination of years of work, campaigning and learning

Robert Macfarlane is a once-in-a-generation virtuoso, and I don’t know when his kaleidoscopic language and world-expanding scholarship have been used to more potent effect than in this impassioned, resounding affirmative to the title’s urgent question

The deep sincerity Robert Macfarlane brings to his efforts to meet the rivers in Ecuador, India and (especially) Quebec with his whole being makes ‘Is A River Alive?’ a very special read. That and the generous spotlight he shines on those who’ve dedicated their lives to saving the rivers in their midst. Inevitably, his explorations beget another question for us all: ‘How alive can a human be to a river (or any other species)?

Is a River Alive? is one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time—exciting, brilliantly comprehensive, mind-altering. In one of its many stunning moments, Macfarlane describes the myriad rivers trapped and buried under the concrete of our cities. “Daylighting” occurs on those rare occasions when these ghost-rivers are dug out & released to the surface to feel the sun, to expand—majestic creatures—and spread life once again. To read this book is to feel your ghosted soul undergo such “daylighting”—metaphysical, political, emotional, linguistic. Any soul going dormant, any citizen going numb, will be revivified and propelled back to their essential core, where rage, wonder, and imagination intertwine, and a powerful hope for the earth arises. A spellbinding, life-changing work

Like its subject, Is a River Alive? is work of flow and counter-flow. It is lyrical, evocative, closely observed, and deeply moving. Robert Macfarlane offers new ways to think and, just as importantly, feel about the majestic and mysterious non-human world

At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Inspired by the activists, artists and lawmakers of the young ‘Rights of Nature’ movement, Macfarlane takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept. 
 
Is a River Alive? flows like water from the mountains to the sea, over three major journeys: 
The first is to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened with destruction by gold-mining. 
 
The second is to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way. 
 
The third is to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign. 
 
Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream who rises a mile from Macfarlane’s house, and flows through his own years and days. 
 
Passionate, immersive and revelatory, Is a River Alive? is at once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date. It is a book that will open hearts, spark debates and challenge perspectives. Lit throughout by other minds and voices, it invites us radically to reimagine not only rivers but also life itself. At the centre of this vital, beautiful book is the recognition that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.

Robert Macfarlane

Praise for Is a River Alive?

Everyone who has ever found something to love in a river should find something to love in this book. It is a masterpiece

One of the big publishing events (if not the biggest) of 2025 – a new book by Robert Macfarlane . . . Personal as well as political, it’s almost as certain to shift readerly perspectives as it is to be a bestseller

The book is a delight . . . So stirring, so surprising, so acute

Everyone who has ever found something to love in a river should find something to love in this book. It is a masterpiece

One of the big publishing events (if not the biggest) of 2025 – a new book by Robert Macfarlane . . . Personal as well as political, it’s almost as certain to shift readerly perspectives as it is to be a bestseller

The book is a delight . . . So stirring, so surprising, so acute

Everyone who has ever found something to love in a river should find something to love in this book. It is a masterpiece

One of the big publishing events (if not the biggest) of 2025 – a new book by Robert Macfarlane . . . Personal as well as political, it’s almost as certain to shift readerly perspectives as it is to be a bestseller

The book is a delight . . . So stirring, so surprising, so acute

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