Lakeland Wild
by Jim Crumley
Read an extract
***SHORTLISTED FOR THE LAKELAND BOOK OF THE YEAR – BILL ROLLINSON PRIZE FOR LANDSCAPE & TRADITION***
The Lake District is one of our busiest national parks. Many people believe that wildness is long gone from the fells, lakes, tarns and becks, yet, within its boundaries, Jim Crumley sets out to prove them wrong – to find “a new way of seeing and writing about this most seen and written about of landscapes”. With a naturalist’s eye and a poet’s instinct he is drawn to Lakeland’s turned-aside places where nature still thrives, from low-lying shores to a high mountain oakwood that’s not even on the map. Through backwaters and backwoods, Crumley traces this captivating land’s place in the evolution of global conservation and pleads the case for a far-reaching reappraisal of all of Lakeland’s wildness. Cumbria Life Book of the Month June 2021
Prizes and awards
SHORTLIST: Lakeland Book of the Year
REVIEWS OF Lakeland Wild
“Pleads for a far-reaching reappraisal of the region’s wildness … with the magic of a mature poet.” Roger Butler, The Great Outdoors
“Another great book by Crumley. Being taken out of the comfort zone of his usual patch in Scotland has proved his mettle as a quality writer about the natural world … Great stuff.” Paul Cheney
“Wonderful … The language throughout is delicious. Intelligent and cultured, but not flowery or overblown. He paints vivid pictures in my mind … one feels that one is standing on the hillside with him.” Mark Avery
“Encounters with buzzards, peregrines and siskins are mesmerisingly described.” The Scots Magazine, Book of the Month
“Notions of spirit of place thread through the book … soulful but resisting the ethereal.” Cumbria Life Book of the Month, June 2021