'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

“One moment several things are possible, the next moment only one happens, and the rest don't exist. Except that other worlds have sprung into being, on which they did happen.” 

It begins with a girl and her daemon

The girl is Lyra Belacqua, an orphan who lives in a place like, and yet unlike, Oxford in a parallel universe in which science, theology and magic are entwined. Yet for Lyra, her world is about climbing the rooftops of the Oxford colleges with her friend Roger, enthralling the neighbourhood children with her tales and keeping out of the way of the scholars of Jordan College.

Then children start to go missing, snatched mysteriously by a group the children call ‘The Gobblers’. When Roger is taken, Lyra founds herself bound up in a dangerous chase, a daring game of cat-and-mouse that sees her on the run from the highest authorities.

It is a hunt that will take her far from Oxford, to high-society London and the home of the mysterious and beautiful Mrs Coulter and beyond, to the home of the witches and the kingdom of the ice bears where the aurora awaits.

Here Lyra’s quest for answers becomes a mission to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust and there are secrets too, about her own family, about a prophecy, about betrayal and about the universe; secrets that come at a deadly cost.Why Novel North recommends

'Love the sense of adventure and the friendships.  Getting caught up in Lyra's world, you crave exploration and discovery for yourself. A wonderful tale of self-discovery and adventure. A fantastical world, just off our own, with armoured polar bears, secret underground passages, and airship exploration over ice.’

Author : Philip Pullman

Edition : Paperback, Paperback, 448 pages

ISBN : 9781407186108

Weight: 280g
Dimensions: 203 x 142 x 29mm

“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

Debut illustrator William Grill brings us a detailed visual narrative of Shackleton's epic journey to Antarctica. Grill's beautiful use of coloured pencils and vibrant hues places him somewhere on the artistic spectrum between Raymond Briggs and David Hockney and his fastidious cataloguing of every single detail of the expedition is nothing short of a Blackstock collection.

He manages to evoke the atmosphere and intrepid excitement that would have surrounded the expedition with his impeccably researched, detailed and atmospheric drawings. Children will love examining the exploded diagrams of the now peculiar provisions taken and the individual drawings of each sled dog and pack horse.

This book takes the academic and historical information surrounding the expedition and reinterprets it for a young audience in a way that will capture their imaginations.

Why Novel North Recommends

‘I’ve always had a fascination with Shackleton’s expedition, and the incredible fact that the whole Endurance team survived their time marooned on the ice, their subsequent trek across, and finally their rescue from Elephant Island. Grill’s illustrations really encompass and capture both the small, warm moments of the expedition as well as the vast and often hostile landscape they had to endure.’

Author : William Grill

Edition : Flying Eye Books, Hardback, 80 pages

ISBN : 9781909263109

Published : 1st February 2014

Weight: 622g
Dimensions: 305 x 245 x 15mm