Summer

Melissa Harrison is a writer and nature lover whose first novel Clay (2013) won the Portsmouth First Fiction prize, was selected for Amazon’s ‘Rising Stars’ programme and named by Ali Smith as a book of the year. Her second, At Hawthorn Time (2015), was shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel Award and chosen by the Telegraph as one of their Books of the Year; both books are as much about the natural world as they are about people. She writes the Nature Notebook in The Times and regularly speaks about conservation, literature, and the very fertile ground between the two.

"A lovely jewel of a book ... wherever you land in the text, there will be something of interest and it won't disappoint. Beautifully observed ... a book to treasure" - jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk; "A remarkable anthology of abundance capturing both the physical wonders and the psychological enchantments of this glorious season, this book conjures summer in the senses as potently as a field of freshly cut hay. Featuring some of the greatest writers on landscape as well as fantastic new voices, it is a collection that will trigger the memory, evoke new places and people, and help you see afresh the preciousness and precariousness of our natural world." -- Rob Cowen, author of Common Ground; "A delightful miscellany of reflections on that loveliest of seasons, summer - packed with insights and encounters with nature from a wide range of authors from Gilbert White and George Eliot to a bevy of young contemporary naturalists" - Stephen Moss, author of Wild Hares and Hummingbirds and Wild Kingdom: Bringing Back Britain's Wildlife; "This book will convince you that summertime is where we truly belong - not through overindulgence in nostalgia, but through realisation of our core values and roots. It will take you home" -- Matthew Oates, author of In Pursuit of Butterflies: A Fifty-year Affair; "Lavishly capturing the nature of the season in all its slow, sensual splendour, Summer is a potent reminder of the riches that surround us, and a poignant evocation of all that we cannot bear to lose" - Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted and editor of Earthlines; "I've been dipping in and out of this beautiful anthology for some time but didn't want to post a review until I had read every entry. There are poems, extracts and essays spanning several centuries, so that there is something for every reader in this celebration of the season ... There's a beauty to this book - from the glorious cover to the simple illustrations like that of the swallow that adorn the inside pages. The writings are all evocative, enlightening, entertaining or thought provoking ... I shall treasure it and return to it again and again ... A perfect gift for any lover of words or nature." -- Linda's Book Bag blog; "Taken together, these pieces truly give the feeling of an English summer. The older writing is remarkably undated, which contributes to a sense of continuity across the centuries ... These are really rather lovely books. Summer is a perfect bedside companion to dip into as the days warm up. Impossible not to covet the whole four-season set." - BookishBeck blog; "There are so many lovely things that I could pull out from this book ... I know that I will enjoy revisiting this beautifully produced anthology" -- Beyondedenrock.com

• CONTENTS; Introduction by Melissa Harrison vii; Edward Thomas 1; Anon. 5; Annie Worsley 7; Thomas Furly Forster 11; Caroline Greville 12; Reverend Gilbert White 15; Thomas Hardy 18; Jennifer Garrett 22; Wilhelm Nero Pilate Barbellion 25; Alexi Francis 26; Sir Edward Grey 29; John Tyler 33; Richard Jefferies 37; Thomas Furly Forster 41; Alexandra Pearce 43; Julia Wallis 46; Nicholas Breton 49; Vivienne Hambly 50; George Eliot 53; Thomas Furly Forster 55; Matt Adam Williams 56; Simon Barnes 59; Edward Thomas 63; Olivia Laing 65; Jo Cartmell 68; Laurie Lee 71; Janet Willoner 78; Thomas Hardy 81; Jacqueline Bain 83; W. H. Hudson 86; Emma Oldham 91; Reverend Gilbert White 93; Nick Acheson 95; Alice Oswald 97; Kate Blincoe 99; Kenneth Allsop 101; Michael McCarthy 103; Thomas Furly Forster 107; Charles Dickens 108; Jan Freedman 114; James Common 118; Clare Leighton 120; Georgia Locock 124; Mark Cocker 127; Benjamin Zephaniah 129; Zach Haynes 131; Thomas Furly Forster 134; Dawn Bradley 136; Philip Larkin 139; Miles King 141; Paul Evans 144; John Green 149; William Morris 152; Lucy McRobert 153; Esther Woolfson 156; Reverend Gilbert White 161; Samantha Fernley 163; Thomas Furly Forster 166; Alan Wright 167; Edward Step 169; Katy Bell 172; Mary Webb 176; Julian Beach 179; Nicola Chester 181; Ebenezer Jones 185; Richard Adams 186; Megan Shersby 188; Thomas Furly Forster 191; Norman MacCaig 192; Ronald Blythe 193; Alison Brackenbury 195; R. F. Langley 196; Rhiannon Bull 199; Thomas Furly Forster 201; Leigh Hunt 202; Author Biographies 205