Commond Ground
Rob Cowen
ONE OF BRITAIN'S FAVOURITE NATURE BOOKS AS FEATURED ON BBC's WINTERWATCH
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.
Product Details
About Rob Cowen
Reviews for Commond Ground
Melissa Harrison
Books of the Year, The Times
Bold and beautiful.
Robert Macfarlane
New Statesman
Cracking… Vividly and movingly described… Cowen writes very well.
Alan Bennett
London Review of Books
Absolutely mesmerising, utterly beautiful, utterly engrossing – it takes a lot for a book to give me goosebumps but this one did.
Joanne Harris
Simon Mayo Drivetime BBC Radio 2
[A] multi-faceted, touched-by-genius exploration of a stretch of Harrogate wasteland.
John Lewis-Stempel
Sunday Express, Books of the Year
Marks out Cowen as a new writer who is both entertaining and significant… Cowen’s descriptive writing is visceral and gripping… and his attention to colour is particularly striking.
Richard Benson
Independent
Magical... Deeply original... a detailed nature study [and] a moving memoir... I became both intrigued and enchanted by this hybrid approach.
Sara Maitland
Countryfile magazine, Book of the Month
Highly poetic... like an archaeologist, Cowen unearths histories, natural life and decayed infrastructure in a small area bordering the River Nidd... Above all, Common Ground is about the transformative power of this unnoticed piece of land, if one can only stand and stare for long enough'
Serena Tarling
Financial Times
Highly poetic... like an archaeologist, Cowen unearths histories, natural life and decayed infrastructure in a small area bordering the River Nidd... Above all, Common Ground is about the transformative power of this unnoticed piece of land, if one can only stand and stare for long enough'
Serena Tarling
Financial Times
Sensitive, thoughtful and poetic. Rob Cowen rakes over a scrap of land with forensic care, leading us into a whole new way of looking at the world.
Michael Palin