'John Lewis-Stempel is the hottest nature writer around.' - Spectator ' Assured and expert
countryside writing' - TLS 'His immense patient powers of observation - along with a flair
for the anthropomorphic - mean he is able to offer a portrait of animal life that's rare in its
colour and drama.' - Observer 'That John Lewis-Stempel is one of the best nature writers of
his generation is undisputed.' - Country Life 'I love the earthiness of John Lewis-Stempel's
writing ... The author has seen it done it sweated it and has earned the right to write
about it with straw-cut fingers and itchy palms. Brilliant stuff.' - Christopher Somerville
walking correspondent for The Times 'It's his observation of the natural world - the sight
the sound the smell of it - that is so memorable. He has a distinctively brisk muscular style
of writing that has a poetic intensity and concision. - Guardian 'Lewis-Stempel sees and
hears things others will never see and hear and he can write about them as no one else can.'-
Daily Mail 'Gilbert White for the 21st Century.' The Bookseller ----- Our countryside is
iconic: a series of distinctive habitats that unite to create a landscape that is unique for
the rich diversity of our flora and fauna. In England his most magisterial book to date John
Lewis-Stempel explores each in turn taking us from coast to moor from downs to field from
the park to the village to create a vivid living portrait of our natural history. In his
trademark lyrical prose Lewis-Stempel reveals the hidden workings of each habitat: the clear
waters and dragonflies the bluebells badgers and stag beetles wild thyme granite cliffs
rock pools and sandy beaches red deer standing at ancient oaks the wayside flowers of the
lane hedgehogs and hares and snow on the high peak. Each landscape - be it calm green or wild
moor plunging cliff or flatland fen - has shaped our idea of ourselves our sense of what it
is to be in England. In a stunning package complete with decorated boards endpapers
chapterheads and a map England: A Natural History is the definitive volume on the English
landscape and the capstone of John Lewis-Stempel's nature writing.
