There are few nature writers as revered as John Lister-Kaye and his evocative and lyrical memoir is suffused with the richly descriptive prose and lyrical observation that one would expect from the veteran conservationist. Detailing both the triumph and tragedy that have accompanied his varied life and career, The Dun Cow Rib is a master-class in eloquent autobiography.
Shortlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2018
Sheets of wind and light cruising the surface of the loch are there to distract me, and flights of mallard come streaming past to land squabbling in the marsh... house martins and swallows skim through like fighter jets, hawking flies across the cloud-brimming surface.
John Lister-Kaye has spent a lifetime exploring, protecting and celebrating the British landscape and its wildlife. His memoir The Dun Cow Rib is the story of a boy's awakening to the wonders of the natural world.
Lister-Kaye's joyous childhood holidays - spent scrambling through hedges and ditches after birds and small beasts, keeping pigeons in the loft and tracking foxes around the edge of the garden - were the perfect apprenticeship for his two lifelong passions: exploring the wonders of nature, and writing about them.
Threaded through his adventures - from moving to the Scottish Highlands to work with Gavin Maxwell, to founding the famous Aigas Field Centre - is an elegy to his remarkable mother, and a wise and affectionate celebration of Britain's natural landscape.
'A paean to the natural world as well as a poignant account of his mother's long illness… an utterly charming and captivating narrative.' - Sunday Times
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 9781786891471
Number of pages: 336
Weight: 250 g
Dimensions: 130 x 198 x 20 mm
Edition: Main
Utterly charming and captivating - The Sunday Times
John Lister-Kaye is Scotland's high priest of nature writing; it's charming and moving to wander along with him . . . The Dun Cow Rib is a loving book - The Times
I should love to pay a visit to and shake this fine author by the hand - Mail on Sunday
A wise and affectionate celebration of Britain's natural landscape - The Week
Excellent - The Scotsman
In this moving autobiography by Scotland's foremost wildlife writer . . . it's when describing the lost countryside of his earliest years that he's without equal - Country Life
Escape into the joyous childhood of John Lister-Kaye - Daily Express
Lister-Kaye sometimes writes like the long-lost sixth member of the Famous Five - Herald
Please sign in to write a review
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?
