The lockdown years of 2020 and 2021 gave many aspiring writers the time to hit the keyboards and write the book they had always wanted to. Plenty discovered that they should stick to their day jobs, but with time on their hands, some spent their hours out in the wild and writing about what they saw.
In East Anglia, we are lucky enough to have some of the best writers in the country living locally and writing about our region. Last year we helped Gareth Brookman with distribution of his Tales From Iceni Territory, but over the last few months two more books with Norfolk connections have caught my attention and we now have both in stock.
The Meaning of Geese
Nick Acheson started watching geese in Norfolk as a schoolboy in the eighties, inspired by his biology teacher’s passion for the birds. In 2020 he found himself back in Norfolk, and unable to c
arry on his career as a conservationist and wildlife tour guide. Travelling around Norfolk and his mother’s old red bike, he observed as the geese arrived in autumn, and followed them until they left in the spring of 2021, writing every day.
HIs passion comes through in his beautiful descriptive writing, which has now won several awards, including the East Anglian Book of the Year. Caroline Jarrold, awarding the prize, said
‘Although all of us came to read the book with little knowledge of geese, Nick Acheson writes so beautifully and evocatively about them that we were all absorbed by his days observing them around North Norfolk. It is a book born of the lockdown, when activities were so restricted, but would encourage anyone to look more closely at nature around them and reflect on the impact of climate change on habitats and habits. It is a book full of Norfolk autumn, winter and spring weather, landscape and geese, with a few other birds, a trusty old bicycle and fellow enthusiasts, which is a great pleasure to read.’
Where the Seals Sing
Susan Richardson has always been entranced by seals; they seem to have surfaced at key junctions throughout her life, comforting her as an anxious child, bringing joy as she began to spread her wings as a writer and helping her to find her way after the loss of her mother. In Where the Seals Sing, she sets out to trace the rhythm of their lives, travelling the coasts clockwise from Cornwall to North Norfolk, in line with the autumn pupping season. Along the way she explores the myths surrounding seals, from their shapeshifting selkie skins to the claims that they decimate fish populations, and she discovers that the greatest dangers they face come from co-existing with us.
Brimming with vivid descriptions of the natural world, Where the Seals Sing is a lyrical tale of memory, rescue and rehabilitation. While loss, both personal and ecological, is a recurring theme, the human–seal connection that flows through the story is stirring and uplifting.
A Thousand Miles in Search of Home
| Author | Nick Acheson |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Dimensions: | 19.7cm x 12.7cm |
| Pages: | 240 |
| Publisher: | Chelsea Green |
| ISBN: | 9781915294258 |
| Year: | 2023 |
| RRP: | £12.99 |
| Author | Susan Richardson |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Dimensions: | 19.8cm x 12.9cm |
| Pages: | 376 |
| Publisher: | Collins |
| ISBN: | 9780008404574 |
| Year: | 2023 |
| RRP: | £10.99 |
| Author | Gareth Brookman |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Dimensions: | 23.4cm x 15.5cm |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Publisher: | Red Campion |
| ISBN: | 9781399950909 |
| Year: | 2023 |
| RRP: | £12.99 |
