Shute, Joe – The Bell Bookshop

Stowaway

Emma — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

‘Shows us that, ultimately, the history of rats is a history of ourselves.’ THE SUNDAY TIMES

‘An intelligent and enlightening book’ MICHAEL MORPURGO

‘Wonderful’ THE SPECTATOR

Plague-carriers. Filth-spreaders. Villains. Vermin. No animal is more maligned than the rat – or more misunderstood.

Rats inspire fear and fascination in equal measure – everyone has a rat story. In Stowaway, Joe Shute travels to some of the most heavily infested cities in the world to unpick the myths we tell ourselves about our rodent neighbours.

From sub-Saharan Africa to the Rocky Mountains, he delves into the hidden world rats inhabit beneath our feet, learns about their role in natural ecosystems and discovers how their extraordinary intelligence is saving lives. And through his own pet rats, he overcomes his own prejudices and experiences the deep emotional bonds rats can form with humans when given the chance.

Rats have shaped human history – and with so many of them living alongside us, there’s no future without them. Is there a better way to coexist with them in the modern age? And what can the lives of rats teach us about our own?

Stowaway

Emma — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A cultural and social history of the rat, examining how one creature achieved total world domination and has inspired such love and loathing.Rats are creatures which inspire fear and fascination in equal measure. Their lives are more closely entwined with humans than any other animal, but they remain the most misunderstood of all species. Yet, arguably no animal has sacrificed more in the pursuit of human health but also been so resolutely blamed for spreading plague and pestilence. No animal has been so determinedly targeted by humans, and still managed to survive and thrive in our midst. No animal is so often derided as being vicious and cunning, but possesses such a rich and complex inner life. In Stowaway, Joe Shute, explores our complex and often contradictory relationship with the rat. He travels the world from sub-Saharan Africa to the Rocky Mountains and visits some of the most rodent-infested cities on earth to unpick the myths we tell ourselves about rats and investigate the unexplored secrets of their own extraordinary lives. He examines the way in which rats have shaped human history and meets cutting-edge researchers harnessing the power of rat intelligence to achieve incredible results. He explores the hidden world they inhabit beneath our feet as well as their role in natural ecosystems. And through his own pet rats, he discovers the close emotional bonds they form with humans when given the chance. Ultimately, this is a book which questions what the lives of rats reveal to us about our own, and whether there might be a better way to live alongside our ancient enemies in the modern age?

Forecast

Emma — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Join Joe Shute as he travels across Britain tracing the history of our seasons and discovering how they are changing.We talk about them. We plan our lives around them. The changing seasons are part of us all. But what happens when the weather changes beyond recognition?Joe Shute has spent years unpicking Britain’s love affair with the weather, poring over the centuries of folklore, customs and rituals our seasons have inspired.But in recent years Shute has noticed a curious thing: the British seasons are changing far faster and far more profoundly than we realise. Daffodils in December, frogspawn in November, swallows that no longer fly home, floods, wildfires and winters without snow. Nothing is behaving as it should, sending nature into an increasing state of flux.In Forecast, Shute travels all over Britain tracing the history of the seasons, and discovering the extent to which we are now growing disconnected from them. While documenting these warped rhythms caused by the changing weather, he records the parallels in his personal journey as he and his wife struggle to conceive a child.This is a book that races to keep up with the march of the seasons as they rapidly change course. It examines how the weather is reshaping the world around us, and asks what happens to centuries of culture, memory and identity when the very thing they subsist on is slipping away.

Forecast

Emma — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We all talk about them. We all plan our lives by them. We are all obsessed with the outlook ahead. The changing seasons have shaped all of our lives, but what happens when the weather changes beyond recognition? The author, Joe Shute, has spent years unpicking Britain’s long-standing love affair with the weather. He has pored over the literature, art and music our weather systems have inspired and trawled through centuries of established folklore to discover the curious customs and rituals we have created in response to the seasons. But in recent years Shute has discovered a curious thing: the British seasons are changing far faster and far more profoundly than we realise. Daffodils in December, frogspawn in November and summers so hot wildfires rampage across the northern moors. Shute has travelled all over Britain discovering how our seasons are warping, causing havoc with nature and affecting all our lives. He has trudged through the severe devastation caused by increasingly frequent flooding and visited the Northamptonshire village once dependent on hard frosts for its slate quarrying industry now forced to invest in industrial freezers due to our ever-warming winters. Even the very language we use to describe the weather, he has discovered, is changing in the modern age. This book aims to bridge the void between our cultural expectation of the seasons and what they are actually doing. To follow the march of the seasons up and down the country and document how their changing patterns affect the natural world and all of our lives. And to discover what happens to centuries of folklore, identity and memory when the very thing they subsist on is changing for good.