The Nature of Autumn
by Jim Crumley
Longlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2017
In autumn nature stages some of its most enchantingly beautiful displays; yet it’s also a period for reflection, melancholy even, as the days shorten and winter’s chill approaches.
Taking in September to November, Jim Crumley tells the story of how unfolding autumn affects the wildlife of his beloved land – from the windswept Western Isles and the unforgiving Cairngorm plateau to the gentler, graceful landscapes of Loch Lomond and Stirling. Along the way, Jim experiences the deer rut, finds phenomenal redwood trees in the most unexpected of places, and contemplates climate change, the death of his father, and his own love of nature; thus painting an intimate – and deeply personal – portrait of a moody and majestic British autumn.
Prizes and awards
SHORTLISTED, The Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize 2017
LONGLISTED, Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2017
REVIEWS OF The Nature of Autumn
"A delightful meditation." The Guardian
"A cornucopia of autumnal delight." The Scots Magazine
"A love song to 'earth’s reviver and replenisher'." Dundee Courier
"Breathtaking…this magical pilgrimage visits enchanting and hidden places…with characteristic moments of close observation, immersion and poetry Crumley witnesses the melancholic textures and haunting transformations of this most beautiful season. This nature book is a delight." Miriam Darlington, BBC Wildlife
"Crumley always manages to combine an extraordinary depth of…knowledge with vivid warm writing and a clear love of what he is writing about.…çrumley is one of an endangered species – the real naturalists. Enchanting." Sara Maitland, BBC Countryfile
"Nature writing [with] a higher tensile strength than most." The Herald