“Ever dreamed of being an otter? That utter underwater thunderbolter, that shimmering twister.”

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards 30 from 30 Award 2020

Winner of the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year 2018

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year 2017

Shortlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2018

Shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2019

The Lost Words is a very special illustrated collection of spell-poems to re-wild the language of children. All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. These are the words of the natural world - Dandelion, Otter, Bramble and Acorn, all gone. The rich landscape of wild imagination and wild play is rapidly fading from our children's minds.

Why Novel North recommends

'Meandering through the pages of this big book brings enormous joy. The illustrations are spellbinding and the words magical. A wonderful book for adults and children.’

Author : Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris

Edition : Hamish Hamilton imprint of Penguin Books, Hardback, 128 pages

ISBN : 9780241253588

Published : 5th July 2017

Weight: 1469g
Dimensions: 377 x 278 x 16mm

'There is no mystery in this association of woods and otherworlds, for as anyone who has walked the woods knows, they are places of correspondence, of call and answer... Different aspects of the forest link unexpectedly with each other, and so it is that within the stories, different times and worlds can be joined.' - Robert Macfarlane 

An ode to the world around us, the small pockets of wilderness that we sometimes forget to look out for.  A beautifully written invitation to explore and be amazed.  An exploration of connecting layers.

Author : Robert Macfarlane

Edition : Granta, Paperback, 352 pages

ISBN : 9781847080189

'By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us.' - Robert Macfarlane

Enchanting and transporting.  Mountains of the Mind engages all senses, inspiring awe and wonder through Macfarlane's wonderfully observed perceptions.  Challenges both mind and physical self.

Author : Robert Macfarlane

Edition : Granta, Paperback, 320 pages

ISBN : 9781847080394

'Most works of mountain literature are written by men, and most of them focus on the goal of the summit.  Nan Shepherd's aimless, sensual exploration of the Cairngorms is bracingly different.' - Robert Macfarlane

In this masterpiece of nature writing, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world that can be breathtakingly beautiful at times and shockingly harsh at others.

Her intense, poetic prose explores and records the rocks, rivers, creatures and hidden aspects of this remarkable landscape. Shepherd spent a lifetime in search of the 'essential nature' of the Cairngorms; her quest led her to write this classic meditation on the magnificence of mountains, and on our imaginative relationship with the wild world around us.

Composed during the Second World War, the manuscript of The Living Mountain lay untouched for more than thirty years before it was finally published.

Why Novel North Recommends

‘An inspiration to engage with the majesty and intricacies of the natural world. Nan Shepherd’s writing is evocative and observed, taking us with her to peaks, inlets and glass like surfaces.  It’s a nourishing read, capturing the vibrancy of seasons, even in the seemingly dreariest of moments.  An invitation to pause.’

Author : Nan Shepherd

Edition : Canongate, Paperback, 114 pages

ISBN : 9780857861832