Henry Williamson

Tarka the otter pursues an active life, sometimes playful and sometimes dangerous, in the Devonshire countryside.

His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers

Tarka the Otter

William Kermode

Patriot's Progress

A classic of nature writing beloved by Rachel Carson, Ted Hughes, and Thomas Hardy. Tarka the Otter is one of the defining masterpieces of modern nature writing, a model for books like J. A. Baker’s The Peregrine that seek to transcend the boundaries between the human and the animal worlds. Henry Williamson’s tale of the struggle for survival draws on his years of observing otters in the wild. It is also thought to reflect his traumatic experiences in the First World War.

The final volume, volume fifteen, of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. Phillip Maddison is living apart from his wife, Lucy, in the year immediately following the Second World War. He has sold his farm and handed over the proceeds in trust for the family excluding himself. Now living alone on Exmoor he is as ever haunted by the past, and his pro-German views bring him under constant fear of attack. A love affair, the death of his father, and tender relationship with his cousin's two daughters are particularly outstanding in a novel full of incident; and this final novel in A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight completes the history of Phillip Maddison while at the same time rounding off an unsurpassed picture of fifty swiftly-changing years.

The Gale of the World

The Dark Lantern (1951) was the first of Henry Williamson's fifteen-volume A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlightspanning the years from the late Victorian period to the Second World War. In it we meet Richard Maddison, a countryman working in London as a City clerk, struggling to make do on a few shillings a week. He falls for Hetty Turner, youngest daughter of a prosperous merchant, but her father rates Richard an unsuitable suitor. 'There is magic in Henry Williamson's novel . . . which raises it right out of the family saga class. The magic is of the steam train age of South London which is so lovingly described.' John Betjeman , Daily Telegraph 'Williamson's style is romantic, though rarely sentimental, and his sensuous response to nature is fresh and surprising.' Anthony Burgess, Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939

The Dark Lantern

A Soldier's Tale

Love and the Loveless

It Was the Nightingale (1962) was the tenth volume of Williamson's great roman-fleuve, A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. After only a year of married happiness, Phillip Maddison experiences tragedy when his young wife Barley dies in childbirth. Left with a baby son, a cat, a dog and an otter cub he and Barley rescued while on holiday in France, Phillip endures the deepest grief. When the otter goes missing Phillip dedicates his life to searching for her, in the hope that success might grant him a new start in life. 'At times almost unbearably poignant... In It Was the Nightingale Maddison enters a world with which Williamson, on the strength of the remarkable Tarka the Otter, will always be associated.' Anthony Burgess, Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English Since 1939

It Was the Nightingale

Threnos for T.E. Lawrence and Other Writings

The Ackymals

What is a young man to do when his wife dies and leaves him with a baby son, a cat, a dog, and an otter cub? Phillip Maddison experiences such a tragedy after but a year of married happiness. The otter, her pet, goes wild when released from a gin trap, and thereafter Phillip's life is dedicated to finding Lutra again in the hope it will bring him new happiness. The search culminates one summer day when the otter is hunted by hounds to exhaustion. On that day Phillip finds his courage again through direct action, which leads to the hope of a new life with Lucy Copleston and her delightful family.

It was the Nightingale

And Other Wild Tales

The Peregrine's Saga

The Innocent Moon (1961) was the ninth volume in Henry Williamson's great roman-fleuve, A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. It is the early 1920s and Phillip Maddison, out of the army, is determined to become a writer. When his career as a journalist founders, he retires to Devon on his motorcycle to share a cottage with a friend and devote himself to his work. But this arrangement does not succeed and before long Phillip finds himself alone. Meanwhile, his heart is assailed by what he takes for love - but not until he has shed certain illusions does he discover what he seeks, from a source that is least expected. Set against the London literary world as well as the superbly drawn Devon landscape, The Innocent Moon paints an unforgettable picture of its times.

The Innocent Moon

A Breath of Country Air

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Tarka the Otter - His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Rivers

Henry Williamson, Author of Tarka the Otter

An abused homing pigeon is entrusted to a young boy who through caring for her learns to respect nature and the domain of birds.

Henry Williamson

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