As a reader, Iāve always been attracted to novels that are character-driven, filling my shelves with books about people who seize the day and fight for what they want, who are interesting, relatable, and flawed but who donāt let those flaws define them. As a writer, I like to put my own flawed characters in situations that force them to face who they are and either come to terms with it or overturn themselves and their lives entirely, and all the novels Iāve listed have a hint of this, too. I hope you enjoy them!
I loved the completely unique plot of this novel; I havenāt read anything quite like it before or since. I was entranced by the story of a completely ordinary person who decided to do something extraordinary, not for attention or fortune, but because they became convinced that if they did, it would save the life of someone they once cared about.
Itās poignant, funny, moving, and I cried more than once. If you like to really feel things when you read a novel, try this one.
'Impossible to put down' TIMES 'Life-affirming delight. A comic pleasure' WOMAN AND HOME 'Profoundly moving' RICHARD MADELEY
OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD. SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOVIE STARRING JIM BROADBENT AND PENELOPE WILTON ____________________
When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.
He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else's life.
I cannot remember a time when I wasnāt captured by nature. Growing up in coastal Devon, UK, I loved immersing myself, sometimes literally, in the landscapes and nature of my surroundings. It was inevitable I would become a biologist, and I think also inevitable that I would be drawn to the field of ecology, the study of the relationships that exist within nature. I have expanded my horizons over the past decade or so, developing a deep love for the landscapes and nature of southern Africa, but the rockpools and lanes of Devon are never far away.
I grew up hearing curlews calling. Their evocative, haunting call is the sound of the countryside of my childhood. With curlews in steep decline, that call is rarely heard these days.
Coldwell is a beacon of curlew conservation in the UK and I absolutely adored her book. She takes us on a physical journey around the British Isles and a temporal journey through the curlew year.
Conjuring up a sense of place, culture, history, and landscape, Coldwell also weaves in a love of nature in both its grandest and most intimate sense. I found it a deeply affecting read.
'Focuses a razor light on the plight of one of our most iconic birds. Inspirational!' Tim Birkhead
Curlews are Britain's largest wading bird, known for their evocative calls which embody wild places; they provoke a range of emotions that many have expressed in poetry, art and music.
A bird stands alone on the edge of a mudflat. Its silhouette is unmistakable. A plump body sits atop stilty legs. The long neck arcs into a small head, which tapers further into a long curved bill. The smooth, convex outlines of this curlew are alluring. They touch some ancestral liking we allā¦
