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The Lost Words

byRobert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris, Guy Garvey (Read by), Edith Bowman (Read by), Benjamin Zephaniah (Read by), Cerys Matthews (Read by)

Rediscover our natural world with this spellbinding book

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HardbackAudio Download

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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, read by Edith Bowman, Guy Garvey, Cerys Matthews and Benjamin Zephaniah.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BEAUTIFUL BOOK AWARD
BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

The book that has taken root in schools across Britain, inspired creative thinkers, young and old, and restored the vanishing poetry of nature.


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.

Across a rich and vivid natural soundscape, Edith Bowman, Guy Garvey, Cerys Matthews and Benjamin Zephaniah, iconic voices of modern Britain, bring the magic of nature and language to listeners. Through captivating readings, wonderful natural recordings and more, the audio edition of The Lost Words is a stunning celebration of the nature and the power of language.

Includes listening notes by Chris Watson, wildlife and natural phenomena recordist, as a downloadable PDF.
*** Discover The Lost Spells, the magical new book from the creators of a literary phenomenon. Available to pre-order now. ***

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

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

The Observer

About Robert Macfarlane

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.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780241985229
  • Length: 48 minutes
  • Price: £9.00
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