A love song to the land. A magical month by month observation through parted grass of the flora and fauna of a meadow.
John Lewis-Stempel is a farmer and 'Britain's finest living nature writer' (The Times). His books include the Sunday Times bestsellers Woodston, The Running Hare and The Wood. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow. In 2016 he was named Magazine Columnist of the Year for his column in Country Life. He farms cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Traditionally.
My book of the year. Meadowland is a seasonal journey of discovery,
a pilgrimage that nurtures the soul and gives meaning to life; all
life. Each beautifully crafted sentence provides a stepping-stone
to absorb and understand the land, with the writer’s lyrical voice
acting as guide and trusty staff as well as illuminating the mind’s
eye with wonderful imagery and perceptive literary devices.
*Sunday Express*
Fascinating ... Books have been written about entire countries that
contain a less interesting cast of characters than Lewis-Stempel's
account of one field on the edge of Wales. Lewis-Stempel’s immense,
patient powers of observation – along with a flair for the
anthropomorphic – mean he is able to offer a portrait of animal
life that's rare in its colour and drama.
Lewis-Stempel's eye for detail and the poetic imagery of sentences
are reminiscent of the late, brilliant Roger Deakin...There is
barely a creature in Meadowland that I didn't learn at least one
interesting new fact about .
*Observer*
Engaging, closely-observed and beautiful ... this author’s deep
love of the world around him is as inspiring as it is entertaining.
This wonderful book ... is most of all, a moving hymn of gratitude
from a man so rooted, so full of joy that he likens his land to a
cathedral and knows that: ‘To stand alone in a field in England and
listen to the morning chorus of the birds is to remember why life
is precious'.
*Daily Mail*
[JLS] has a sharp eye, a fluent pen and that omnivorous, innocently
English curiosity about wild creatures... There are lyrical moments
aplenty but this is not the cloying 'regardez-moi maman' nature
writing. JLS's tone is level, involved, humorous and even
self-deprecating... This is a rich, interesting book, generously
studded with raisins of curious information.
*The Times*
My holiday reading: [John Lewis-Stempel] knows not only all about
the different kinds of life in such a place and how they all fit
together, but can also write so vividly.
*The Guardian*
Lively elegant prose. [John Lewis-Stempel's] thoughtful,
discursive, often humorous and always enjoyable narrative conveys a
vital message.
*Spectator*
A beautifully written and insightful diary with fascinating
historical and literary diversions.
*Countryfile*
This very personal love letter to the land is steeped in knowledge
of the local flora, fauna and history, and grounded by the
realities of farming. Precise and poetic descriptions are rooted in
the context of conservation issues and heritage – names are often
traced to their Anglo-Saxon or Celtic roots. Neither sentimental
rhapsody nor environmental study, although containing elements of
both, this is an insightful meditation on our relationship with
nature, and on nature writing itself.
*Juanita Coulson, The Lady*
This is a great book – a magnificent love letter to the natural
world, full of wisdom and experience, written with wit, poetry and
love. It is, in fact, one of the best five books I have ever had
the privilege to read. I want to scream from the rooftops: buy it,
give it, read it.
*Eden Project; Heligan*
An intimate, month-by-month observation of the flora and fauna of
an English meadow; its foxes, badgers, rabbits, skylarks, cowslips.
It's written in exquisite prose.
*Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller*
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