Chris Yates, one of Britain’s most insightful and lyrical writers, raises his gaze from his beloved rivers and ponds and takes us on a mesmerizing tour of the British countryside.
“Last November, the sudden appearance of a hundred wintering ravens in a wood in Cranborne Chase, where I have lived for twenty-five years without seeing more than a few solitary specimens, reminded me that there is always something ready to flame up again in the landscape, just when it seemed the fire had gone out.”
In Nightwalk we accompany Chris Yates on the most magical of journeys into the very heart of the British countryside. His acute observation of the natural world and ability to transcend it exquisitely sets Chris apart from his contemporaries.
Time slows down for a deeper intimacy with nature, and through Chris’s writing we hear every rustle of a leaf, every call of a bird. He widens the power of our imagination, heightening our senses and revealing beauty in the smallest details.
About the Author :
Chris Yates is an angler, photographer, tea connoisseur and prolific writer with contributions to the Idler magazine and former Editor of Waterlog magazine. He is a celebrated British fisherman and author of How To Fish, which has variously been described as containing 'more good sense than all those effete-aesthete fishing narratives put together' (Condé Nast Traveller) and as 'a gem of a book' (The Field). He is also known for his other books – Falling in Again, The Secret Carp, The Deepening Pool, Casting at the Sun, River Diary and Four Seasons – and the BBC2 series A Passion for Angling.
Review :
‘Wonderful stuff’
Independent on Sunday
‘There can be few who have explained so elegantly both the zen-like trance of the serious fisherman and the all-too-active comedy of preparation, expedition and return’
Guardian
‘Chris Yates is a god’
Condé Nast Traveller
‘A wonderfully elegiac book’
Big Issue
‘lyrical and haunting…Yates’ narrative is presented as an account of a midsummer countryside walk…Its beauty lies in its tenderness about the world and the author’s personal responses to what he hears, feels and smells…It stayed with me a long time after I finished.’ Rachel Joyce, The Times
‘This book is the result of following a whim to its natural conclusion. It’s about time and losing track of it. Chris Yates doesn’t really want his wanderings to end, and neither will you. It’s a wonderful book, and I’m happy to recommend it without qualification.’ Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail
‘there is no doubt about the elegance and precision of Yates’ language, or his ability to conjure up an atmosphere… perhaps this is the real beauty of Nightwalk, and the true value of Yates’ gift as a writer: that it gives back the night to us, offers up a sense of freedom in the place of anxiety, reminds us of the silence in the midst of its bustling life, and soothes our atavistic fear of the dark while never quite permitting us to be complacent.’ EarthLines
‘Chris’s existing and extensive fan-base, the anglers, will find a freedom in Nightwalk…I believe this is [his] finest work to date…What is certain, though, is that Nightwalk will delight for many, many years to come.’ Kevin Parr, Caught By the River
‘In Yates’s darkest England, four delightful decades of meandering nostalgia, curiosity and hedonism meet creatures of the night in the finest tradition of country writing.’ BBC Wildlife
