The Heeding

LONGLISTED FOR THE JAMES CROPPER WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2022 ___ Take a journey filled with everyday beauty and wonder. A year of looking, listening and noticing across four unique seasons and thirty-five beautifully illustrated poems. 'Dazzling, moving... A book that will touch many, and be given often: here, take this, you must read this.'**xA0;Robert Macfarlane 'A book about people, place and nature that's impossible to put down.'**xA0;BBC Wildlife Magazine ___ The world changed in 2020. Gradually at first, then quickly and irreversibly, the patterns by which we once lived altered completely. Across home and town, allotment and moorland,**xA0;The Heeding**xA0;paints a picture of four unique seasons caught in the grip of history yet filled with moments of wonder close at hand. A sparrowhawk hunting in a back street; butterflies massing in a high-summer yard as death rates rise; the moon overhead with a loved one held tight - the everyday memories that shape a life and help us recall our own. The Heeding**xA0;leads us on a journey that takes its markers and signs from nature and a world filled with fear but beauty and joy too. Collecting birds and animals, land and people together, it helps us look again, to heed: to be attentive to this world we share, to grieve what's lost and together seek a better and brighter tomorrow. ____ SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOK ARE MY BAG READERS AWARDS 2021 'The Heeding**xA0;isn't a book. It's a gateway into the place all of us have been looking for.'**xA0;Joanne Harris 'A love letter to all that still remains for us to hold dear, to protect, to celebrate.'**xA0;Kerri ní Dochartaigh 'I have clung to this book since it arrived, keeping it close, and the words have clung to my mind.'**xA0;Jackie Morris 'Rob Cowen's poems speak to us all, guiding us through the emotional journey the nation has gone through... Powerful, moving and brilliant.'**xA0;Stephen Moss 'Visceral, achingly tender and with stunning illustrations by Nick Hayes.'**xA0;Dara Mcanulty 'Luminously hopeful . . .**xA0;The Heeding**xA0;is an invitation to appreciate the gifts of the moment.'**xA0;Kathryn Aalto.