A breathtaking tale of the rich, wild world and all its wonder from acclaimed nature writer and Costa Award-shortlisted novelist, Melissa Harrison – the perfect read for cosy nights!

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARDS 2021

CHOSEN AS ONE OF COUNTRYFILE’S BEST NATURE BOOKS OF 2021

‘Timely and magical, it will open the young reader’s eyes to the wonders of the natural world.’ NATASHA FARRANT

‘Each page brims with the wonder of our natural world, so much to learn but all a sheer delight.’ PIERS TORDAY

Three tiny, ancient beings – Moss, Burnet and Cumulus, once revered as Guardians of the Wild World – wake from winter hibernation in their beloved ash tree home.

When it is destroyed, they set off on an adventure to find more of their kind, a journey which takes them first into the deep countryside and then the heart of a city.

Helped along the way by birds and animals, the trio search for a way to survive and thrive in a precious yet disappearing world …

• The breathtaking children’s debut from acclaimed nature writer and literary fiction novelist, Melissa Harrison: shortlisted for the Costa Book Award and longlisted for the Baileys Prize
• Inspired by 1942 classic The Little Grey Men by BB, with shades of The Borrowers
• A tale of disappearing wilderness that couldn’t be more relevant in today’s environmental crisis, brought to life for children by three tiny, funny, eternal beings
• Continue the adventure in book 2, By Rowan and Yew!

A nature diary by award-winning novelist, nature writer and hit podcaster Melissa Harrison, following her journey from urban south London to the rural Suffolk countryside.

‘A writer of great gifts.’ ROBERT MACFARLANE
‘The journal of a writer to compare to Thomas Hardy. Melissa Harrison is among our most celebrated nature writers.’ JOHN CAREY, THE TIMES

A Londoner for over twenty years, moving from flat to Tube to air-conditioned office, Melissa Harrison knew what it was to be insulated from the seasons. Adopting a dog and going on daily walks helped reconnect her with the cycle of the year and the quiet richness of nature all around her: swifts nesting in a nearby church; ivy-leaved toadflax growing out of brick walls; the first blackbird’s song; an exhilarating glimpse of a hobby over Tooting Common.

Moving from scrappy city verges to ancient, rural Suffolk, where Harrison eventually relocates, this diary – compiled from her beloved Nature Notebook column in The Times – maps her joyful engagement with the natural world and demonstrates how we must first learn to see, and then act to preserve, the beauty we have on our doorsteps – no matter where we live.

A perceptive and powerful call-to-arms written in mesmerising prose, The Stubborn Light of Things confirms Harrison as a central voice in British nature writing.