“A Flamboyant History of Planet England”: A Land is back in print

In Saturday’s Guardian Review, Robert MacFarlane re-reads A Land and reflects on its continuing power and its author’s fascinating life.  MacFarlane introduces a new edition of the book, due out shortly in the Collins Natural Library, which describes it as a classic piece of British nature writing (here it is on Amazon).  While A Land is readily found in libraries and the second-hand trade, having been a huge seller in its time, its reappearance in print (and electronically!) is very exciting.  This will bring it to new audiences and encourage further discussion of its qualities.

“No-one has ever written more beautifully …”

Nice to see A Land by Jacquetta Hawkes chosen by writer Adam Nicolson as one of the five best books about England in this short piece from yesterday’s Daily Telegraph.  He suggests an interesting comparison with a book new to me, Taylor on English Building, which he says see buildings (and stone) as the “autobiography of the country”.  Interesting stuff.

A Land – Then and Now

Delighted to see A Land featured in this week’s Times Literary Supplement.  Norman Nicholson’s 22 June 1951 review of Jacquetta Hawkes’ masterpiece is reprinted in the Then and Now section.  He was impressed! The review sums up what made the book unique: Jacquetta’s scientific knowledge plus her imaginative engagement with the deep past.

“As a story alone it would be immensely exciting, but Mrs Hawkes conveys much more than the excitement.  She sees it all as if it were happening now.  To her the past is not over and done with; it is alive in the present, as the child is alive in the man.”