From The Times' much-loved walking columnist, a lyrical record of a year walking the British Isles while exploring the nature of his relationship with his father. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2017.
Christopher Somerville is the walking correspondent of The Times.
He is one of Britain's most respected and prolific travel writers,
with forty-two books, hundreds of newspaper articles and many TV
and radio appearances to his name.
He lives in Bristol.
This is nature at its most embracing; human nature richly-woven
into the cycle of the seasons and the ecologies of father and son,
observed with the passion and learning of Britain’s favourite
walker. A truly wonderful, uplifting book, bursting with life.
*Nicholas Crane*
Christopher Somerville's THE JANUARY MAN has taken me on such a
happy journey. I have experienced every type of weather, and walked
until my feet are very sore; I have learnt many ancient stories,
and stopped to notice the crows, the gulls, the geese, not to
mention moss, flowers and clouds. I have thought about churches,
pubs, morris men, farming, mud, rain, boots, badgers, apples,
climate change - as well as growing older. All this from the
comfort of my chair in the kitchen. And of course in thinking about
all these things, I have also thought about my own place in the
world, and the things I love. I have thought about my dad too and
his final years. By the time I came to the end, I was crying.
It is a wise, entertaining, kind book - one that makes you want to
walk and want to read. The language is taut, beautiful, sparky and
generous. It’s a book not just for walkers or nature lovers, but
anyone who loves a good plain story.
*Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry*
A delightful, poetical hotchpotch...three parts nature notes to one
part history lesson, one part personal memoir and one part loving
salute to his late father...Somerville is a great wordsmith and
could write about mud and make it interesting...he supplies a
bumper draught of inspiration to visit some enticing, intriguing
corners of Britain.
*The Times*
BOOK OF THE WEEK ... Like all the best nature writers, he's able to
evoke an entire landscape with the lightest of touches.
*The Daily Mail*
This is the kind of book that will make you ache to leave the Tube
or train at the very next stop and make for that distant ridge,
that glimpsed wood.
*Mail on Sunday*
How good is it to read a nature memoir that is not a study in
misery? … For a writer, the highest compliment he or she can pay
another writer is envy. And I was green on reading The January Man.
It’s not just Somerville's knowledge, it’s the truth and clarity in
his prose – which is like the pure tone that comes from a tuning
fork.
*John Lewis-Stempel, author of Meadowland and The Running Hare*
The January Man is a book that makes you want to pull on your
boots, grab a map and get out there ... [Somerville] has the
enviable power of noticing and describing details so beautifully:
the subtle but once captured so distinct, variations of yellow in
spring flowers; the way a kingfisher's garb - iridescent blue and
copper in the sunshine, green and brown in the shadows - gives it
the power of discretion ... This is a gentle, thoughtful narrative
about the nature of relationships ...love opened up through the
mutual experience of the power of place, enjoyed on foot.
*Country Life*
A goldmine of historical nuggets and walking inspiration
*Wunderlust*
This inspiring book tells the story of a year of walking across the
British Isles...Evocatively written, with charming snippets of
childhood memories... Somerville explains how walking the
countryside shaped him as an adult... Touching on his father's
Second World War experiences and stoic nature, Somerville seeks to
discover the man inside the man. Poignantly highlights the power
walking has in forging close relationships and enabling
communication, this heart-warming walker's diary proves real
inspiration to exploring Britain on foot.
*Countryfile*
Christopher Somerville’s moving, measured and immaculate The
January Man is part walker’s diary, part celebration of his
reticent yet loving father, and part... well, anything that takes
his fancy and ours. But most of all it is a tender rumination on
the One Big Thing that troubles all of us when we put on our hiking
boots – and that’s mortality.
*Jim Crace, author of Harvest*
A rich and wonderful book which draws on Christopher Somerville’s
unusually deep knowledge of Britain’s hidden pathways.
*Hugh Thomson, author of 'The Green Road into the Trees'*
Editor's Choice: a beguiling blend of memoir, travel and nature
writing.
*Bookseller*
A terrific and touching read. The January Man is a combination of
natural and human history and somehow manages to be both light- and
slightly heavy-hearted... amusing but almost mystical in places
too, which is a pretty incredible feat to pull off.
*Tobias Jones*
Brilliantly descriptive of the British landscape and wildlife
across the seasons, from fields to coasts, along lanes and byways,
it is interwoven with stories of local people, traditions, customs
and thoughts on history, culture and geography. Walker or armchair
traveller, it’s a pleasure to read.
.
*Choice magazine*
Exquisitely written.
*Publisher's Association REview*
A thrilling read ... exquisitely poignant
*Saga*
The author's gaze is on the world around him, especially its
natural history ... his skill at describing just what he sees is
remarkable ... a very British account of a father-son relationship
and more moving for its restraint and light touch.
*Perceptive Travel*
This finely observed and evocative book is a celebration of the
power of walking to discover emotional, as well as physical,
landscapes.
*Daily Mail*
A delightful, poetical hotchpotch of a book. It's part nature
notes, part history lesson, as well as memoir and loving salute to
his late father. . . Somerville is a great wordsmith.
*The Times*
Charming, evocative
*CHOICE magazine*
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