The Stubborn Light of Things

A Nature Diary

Melissa Harrison

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Paperback

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English

Faber & Faber
28 September 2021

Biography; The environment; The countryside, country life; Weather; Travel writing

A SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR

A nature diary by award-winning novelist, nature writer and hit podcaster Melissa Harrison, following her journey from urban south London to the rural Suffolk countryside.

'A writer of great gifts.' - Robert Macfarlane 'The journal of a writer to compare to Thomas Hardy. Melissa Harrison is among our most celebrated nature writers.' - John Carey, The Times

A Londoner for over twenty years, moving from flat to Tube to air-conditioned office, Melissa Harrison knew what it was to be insulated from the seasons. Adopting a dog and going on daily walks helped reconnect her with the cycle of the year and the quiet richness of nature all around her: swifts nesting in a nearby church; ivy-leaved toadflax growing out of brick walls; the first blackbird's song; an exhilarating glimpse of a hobby over Tooting Common.

Moving from scrappy city verges to ancient, rural Suffolk, where Harrison eventually relocates, this diary - compiled from her beloved Nature Notebook column in The Times - maps her joyful engagement with the natural world and demonstrates how we must first learn to see, and then act to preserve, the beauty we have on our doorsteps - no matter where we live.

A perceptive and powerful call-to-arms written in mesmerising prose, The Stubborn Light of Things confirms Harrison as a central voice in British nature writing.

By: Melissa Harrison
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions: Height: 199mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 193g
ISBN: 9780571363513
ISBN 10: 0571363512
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 28 September 2021
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Melissa Harrison is a novelist and nature writer. She contributes a monthly Nature Notebook column to The Times and writes for the FT Weekend, the Guardian and the New Statesman. Her most recent novel, All Among the Barley, was the UK winner of the European Union Prize for Literature. It was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year and a Book of the Year in the Observer, the New Statesman and the Irish Times. Her previous books have been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction (At Hawthorn Time) and the Wainwright Prize (Rain). She lives in rural Suffolk, the setting for the hit podcast which accompanies this book, also called The Stubborn Light of Things. @M_Z_Harrison.