Description
Book SynopsisIn the endless light of summer days, and the magical gloaming of the wee small hours, nature in Jim's beloved Highlands, Perthshire and Trossachs heartlands is burgeoning freely, as though there is one long midsummer's eve, nothing reserved. For our flora and fauna, for the very land itself, this is the time of extravagant growth, flowering and the promise of fruit and the harvest to come. But despite the abundance, as Jim Crumley attests, summer in the Northlands is no Wordsworthian idyll. Climate chaos and its attendant unpredictable weather brings high drama to the lives of the animals and birds he observes. There is also a wild, elemental beauty to the land, mountains, lochs, coasts and skies, a sense of nature at its very apex during this, the most beautiful and lush of seasons. Jim chronicles it all: the wonder, the tumult, the spectacle of summer - and what is at stake as our seasons are pushed beyond nature's limits.
Trade ReviewTHE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2020, SHORTLISTED; "[A] beautiful book ... [an] exceptional and intense quality of observation glows from every page ... He finds astonishing beauty in the landscape, and sheer wonder in his encounters ... Nothing can diminish the sharpness of his eye, the ardour of his writing, and the pure wonder at the natural world that shapes every paragraph ... A wisdom that we need now, more than ever before." Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman; "This is a work of pure escapism as the throb of spring gives way to the reflective calm of our warmest months. Crumley's writing effortlessly captures the majesty of a golden eagle eyrie, the magic of beavers returning to their old habitats, and the joy that arrives with a flock of whooper swans overhead ... The perfect finale to this evocative seasonal collection" Tiffany Francis-Baker, BBC Wildlife Magazine; "A mesmerising blend of observation and in-depth knowledge about our wild landscapes ... every bit as compelling and thought-provoking as its predecessors ... no better book to lose yourself in." Herald; Praise for Previous work: Richard Jefferies Society & White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize for nature writing, SHORTLISTED Saltire Society award: SHORTLISTED "A delightful meditation." Stephen Moss, Books of the Year, Guardian; "Nature writing is like trying to catch birds with cobwebs. Crumley's just has a higher tensile strength than most." Herald.
Table of ContentsPrologue: The Goddess of Small Things; Part One: Everything Else in the Universe; Chapter One: St Kilda Summer, 1988; Chapter Two: Forty Years at Eagle Crag; Chapter Three: You Have Not Seen Her with My Eyes; Chapter Four: She Is of the Woods and I Am Not; Chapter Five: Inside the Arc; Part Two: Song for an Unsung Shore; Chapter Six: Solstice; Chapter Seven: Between a Rock and a Soft Place; Chapter Eight: City of Ghost Birds; Chapter Nine: Bass Notes; Part Three: Smoke Signals; Chapter Ten: Touchstones; Chapter Eleven: The Land of Havørn (1): Under the Blue Mountain; Chapter Twelve: The Land of Havørn (2): Islands of Dreams; Chapter Thirteen: The Climate Imperative; Chapter Fourteen: The Accidental Kingfisher and Other Stories: A Diary; Epilogue: A Daydream of Wolves
