Synopses & Reviews
James Rebanks's acclaimed chronicle of the regeneration of his family's traditional English farm, revealing through this intimate lens the profound global transformation of agriculture and of the human relationship to the land.
Superbly written and deeply insightful, the book captivates the reader until the journey's end." — Wall Street Journal
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * New York Times Editors' Choice * Named Nature Book of the Year by the Sunday Times * Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing * Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize * A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Sunday Times, Financial Times, New Statesman, Independent, Telegraph, Observer, and Daily Mail
The New York Times bestselling author of The Shepherd's Life profiles his family's farm across three generations.
As a boy, James Rebanks's grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in England's Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognizable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song.
Hailed as a brilliant, beautiful book by the Sunday Times (London), Pastoral Song (published in the United Kingdom under the title English Pastoral) is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. And yet this elegy from the northern fells is also a song of hope: of how, guided by the past, one farmer began to salvage a tiny corner of England that was now his, doing his best to restore the life that had vanished and to leave a legacy for the future.
This is a book about what it means to have love and pride in a place, and how, against all the odds, it may still be possible to build a new pastoral: not a utopia, but somewhere decent for us all.
Published in the United Kingdom as English Pastoral.]
Review
"This is a rare and urgent book whose beauty is not only in the writing but in what lies behind it: a gentle and wise sensibility that is alive to the human love affair with the land, and yet also intimately aware of our systematic cruelty towards it. James Rebanks reveals this paradoxical condition with great sensitivity. We are very lucky to have him." Hisham Matar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between
Review
"It's gorgeous...I can't recommend it enough." Caitlin Moran, NYT bestselling author of How to Be a Woman
Review
"A vividly-recalled memoir of a farming childhood, but also a forensic defence of the kind of agriculture that has nearly been wiped out....Perceptive, eloquent, and passionate....Rebanks writes so well that I can't imagine anyone starting to read it and not being eager to read it all at once, as I did, and not being moved by the life and the landscape he describes so well. I was thrilled by it." Philip Pullman, #1 bestselling author of the His Dark Materials series
Review
“A beautifully written elegy to traditional farmers and farming methods....A lovely cautionary tale filled with pride, hope, and respect for the land and its history.” Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
About the Author
James Rebanks runs a family-owned farm in the Lake District in northern England. A graduate of Oxford University, James works as an expert advisor to UNESCO on sustainable tourism. He uses his popular Twitter feed — @herdyshepherd1 — to share updates on the shepherding year. He is the author of The Shepherd's Life.