About the Author

Gavin Maxwell was born in the south-west of Scotland and was educated at a succession of schools before taking a degree in Estate Management at Oxford. He served with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, after which he bought the island of Soay. As well as his famous otter books - Ring of Bright Water and The Rocks Remain - he also wrote the critically acclaimed People of the Reeds, an account of the marsh Arabs of southern Iraq. He died in 1969.

Reviews

'... one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century' Richard Ford 'To call it a travel book is as inadequate as calling a camel a quadruped.' Geoffrey Moorhouse '... his best book.' Nigel Dennis, Sunday Telegraph