‘A dazzlingly inventive work of literature’ Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways

'A wonderful, epic braiding of history, geography and personal memoir' James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral
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At the heart of this book is a highway. The A1; The Great North Road. A 400-mile multiplicity of ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path, coach route and motorway that has run like a backbone through Britain for the last 2,000 years.

In this genre-defying and profoundly personal book, Cowen follows this ghost road from beginning to end on a journey through history, place, people and time. Weaving his own histories and memories with the layered landscapes he moves through, this is the story of an age, of coming to terms with time past and time passing, and the roads that lead us to where we find ourselves.

Written in kaleidoscopic prose, The North Road is an unforgettable exploration of Britain’s great highway.
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'This is an astonishing book in its scope and vitality. It’s one to relish and revisit.' The Telegraph

'A remarkable, post-Covid, post-Brexit state of the nation literary archaeology.' Financial Times

'Stunning and utterly unique. The North Road sits in a genre of one' Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole

'A dazzling, dogged, layered account of one road’s passage through place, time and an ordinary family’s history, The North Road truly is a trip' Melissa Harrison, author of All Among The Barley

'Thought-provoking and beautiful' Matt Gaw, author of Under The Stars

'A beautifully woven and mesmerising book' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen

'Sweeping, sensitive and enduring' Tristan Gooley, author of How To Read A Tree

‘A wonderful, epic braiding of history, geography and personal memoir’ James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral

‘Stunning…weaving an intricate tapestry of tarmac, humanity and time, as rich as the dark earth on which his many threads lie. It will stay with me.’ Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path
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At the heart of this book is a highway. The A1; The Great North Road. A 400-mile multiplicity of ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path, coach route and motorway that has run like a backbone through Britain for the last 2,000 years.

In this genre-defying and profoundly personal book, Cowen follows this ghost road from beginning to end on a journey through history, place, people and time. Weaving his own histories and memories with the layered landscapes he moves through, this is the story of an age, of coming to terms with time past and time passing, and the roads that lead us to where we find ourselves.

Written in kaleidoscopic prose, The North Road is an unforgettable exploration of Britain’s great highway.
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‘Stunning and utterly unique. The North Road sits in a genre of one’ Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole

‘A dazzling, dogged, layered account of one road’s passage through place, time and an ordinary family’s history, The North Road truly is a trip’ Melissa Harrison, author of All Among The Barley

‘Thought-provoking and beautiful’ Matt Gaw, author of Under The Stars

‘A beautifully woven and mesmerising book’ Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen

‘Sweeping, sensitive and enduring’ Tristan Gooley, author of How To Read A Tree

‘Rob has given the A1 an entirely new sense of life’ Luke Turner, author of Out Of The Woods

‘A great and important new work’ Nick Drake

‘Dazzling, moving… A book that will touch many, and be given often: here, take this, you must read this.’ ROBERT MACFARLANE

‘So vivid… A call out to our elemental relationship with love and nature. Beautiful.’ WILLEM DAFOE
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The world changed in 2020. Gradually at first, then quickly and irreversibly, the patterns by which we once lived altered completely.

The Heeding  paints a picture of a year caught in the grip of history, yet filled with revelatory perspectives close at hand: a sparrowhawk hunting in a back street; the moon over a town with a loved-one’s hand held tight; butterflies massing in a high-summer yard – the everyday wonders and memories that shape a life and help us recall our own.

Across four seasons and thirty-five luminous poems and illustrations, Rob Cowen and Nick Hayes lead us on a journey that takes its markers and signs from nature and a world filled with fear and pain but beauty and wonder too. Collecting birds, animals, trees and people together,  The Heeding  is a profound meditation to a time no-one will forget.

At its heart, this is a book that helps us look again, to heed: to be attentive to this world we share and this history we’re living through, to be aware of how valuable and fragile we are, to grieve what’s lost and to hope for a better and brighter tomorrow.
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‘The Heeding  speaks to us all, guiding us through the emotional journey the nation has gone through during the past year, with humour, pathos and forensically sharp portrayals of people and nature at a time like no other.’  Stephen Moss, author of  The Robin

‘Poignant and exquisite’  Lucy Jones, author of?Losing Eden

‘Vivid, beating, aching.  The Heeding  feels like both a eulogy and a defiant, wild challenge to go on. I loved it.’  Josie George, author of  A Still Life

‘It is rare to find a writer that is able to tease apart the threads that make up the fragile fabric of our loves, hopes and despairs with such care and humility. An exceptionally good book for an exceptionally bad time.’  Matt Gaw, author of  Under the Stars

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2016

‘Bold and beautiful.’ Robert Macfarlane

‘Sensitive, thoughtful and poetic … leading us into a whole new way of looking at the world’ Michael Palin

‘Touched by genius’ John Lewis-Stempel

‘Absolutely mesmerizing, utterly beautiful and engrossing‘ Joanne Harris

After moving from London to a new home in Yorkshire, and about to become a father for the first time, Rob Cowen finds himself in unfamiliar territory. Disoriented, hemmed in by winter and yearning for open space, he ventures out to a nearby edge-land: a pylon-slung tangle of wood, hedge, field, meadow and river that lies unclaimed and overlooked on the outskirts of town.

Digging deeper into this lost landscape, he begins to uncover its many layers and lives – beast, bird, insect, plant and people – in kaleidoscopic detail. As the seasons change and the birth of his child draws closer, his transformative journey into the blurry space where human and nature meet becomes increasingly profound. In bringing this edge-land to life, Cowen offers both a both a unique portrait of people and place through time and an unforgettable exploration of the common ground we share with the natural world, the past and each other.