The Snow Geese
William Fiennes
With an introduction by Robert Macfarlane
Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize.
I had attached myself to the birds. I couldn't move on until the birds moved on, and the birds couldn't move on without the spring.
One winter, after an enforced period of recuperation, William Fiennes finds himself restless and yearning for adventure. He travels to Texas, where he begins a quest to trace the million-strong flocks of snow geese making their spring flight thousands of miles north to the Arctic tundra. On his epic journey he meets people from every walk of life, from ex-nuns to train fanatics, and their stories resound with the longing to arrive at the right place in the world.
Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize, The Snow Geese is a poignant and lyrical paean to the richness and wonder of the world around us. A unique blend of autobiography, travel and nature writing, this is a classic tale of belonging and the inescapable lure of home.
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About William Fiennes
Reviews for The Snow Geese
Sunday Telegraph
The Snow Geese moved me as have few other recent books. No one who reads it is likely to continue to look at the world in the same way
Times Literary Supplement
A beautifully solitary and beautifully reflective book
Evening Standard
The descriptions of the geese and their environment are jaw-droppingly beautiful. But Fiennes' most remarkable talent is for describing the quotidian with such freshness that it is like seeing the world for the first time
Mail on Sunday
An inspired work of natural history and travel. A classic
Irish Independent
His sharp eye and his inventive similes take us everywhere with him . . . an unmistakably gifted writer
The Times