Autumn

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.

"In years to come, I have a feeling that Melissa Harrison will be responsible for the introduction of a whole new cohort of gifted writers to the English language. In collections such as this we shall encounter them first" - Richard Littledale, blogger; "Waking early in the dark is autumn's gift, I tell myself. Get out there and smell it, taste it, watch and listen. 64 authors in this fine collection, skilfully assembled by Melissa Harrison, have the same message. The UK in autumn is a feast for the senses. If you feel it is passing you by, dip into these pages" --Sue Brooks, Caught by the River; "This gorgeous little book is a diverse collection of autumnal prose and poetry, perfect to give as a gift to a lover of nature or literature, or to keep on your own shelves as a little treat to dip into from time to time ...The line drawings were simply lovely" -- Being Anne.com; "Whatever your own experience of autumn - whether it's a much loved season or not; even if you call it "fall" instead - I can highly recommend this anthology's chorus of voices old and new. There's no better way for a book lover to usher in the season" - BookishBeck; "A pretty book with something for everyone inside" -- Call Me Madam; "A celebration of the year's rich transformation" -- Plantlife; "There's something rather special about these beautifully expressive little books ... Sharp and crisp with occasional touches of melancholy, this is a perfect read for the Autumn season" -- jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk

• CONTENTS; Introduction by Melissa Harrison vii; Horatio Clare 1; Edward Step 5; Gerard Manley Hopkins 8; Elizabeth Gardiner 9; Reverend Gilbert White 12; Annie Worsley 15; Will Burns 19; Caroline Greville 20; Thomas Furly Forster 23; Sue Croxford 24; Thomas Furly Forster 27; Kate Blincoe 28; Patrick Kavanagh 30; Alice Hunter 32; Reverend Gilbert White 34; Alexi Francis 37; Thomas Furly Forster 40; Paul Ashton 41; William Cobbett 44; Jo Cartmell 46; Percy Bysshe Shelley 49; Amy Liptrot 53; Louise Baker 58; Thomas Furly Forster 61; Clare Leighton 63; Alfred, Lord Tennyson 68; Chris Murphy 71; Thomas Furly Forster 74; Nick Acheson 75; Jane Adams 77; Reverend Gilbert White 81; Will Harper-Penrose 84; Daphne Pleace 87; Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club 91; Ginny Battson 93; George Eliot 96; Brian Carter 97; William Butler Yeats 100; Janet Willoner 102; Jon Dunn 105; Edward Thomas 109; Tamsin Constable 110; Thomas Furly Forster 113; Leanne Manchester 114; Helen Macdonald 116; Matt Merritt 119; Richard Jefferies 120; Julia Wallis 123; Julian Jones 124; Thomas Furly Forster 129; Dr Rob Lambert 130; Nan Shepherd 134; Lucy McRobert 137; Samuel Taylor Coleridge 141; Adrian Bell 142; Sinead Gleeson 144; Dylan Thomas 148; Ryan Clark 151; Thomas Hardy 153; Reverend Gilbert White 154; John Lewis-Stempel 156; Matt Gaw 160; Alison Brackenbury 162; Benjamin Myers 164; Ted Hughes 166; Megan Shersby 168; Thomas Furly Forster 170; John Clare 171; Nicola Chester 175; Laurence Arnold 178; Imtiaz Dharker 182; Neil Ansell 183; Thomas Furly Forster 186; David Gwilym Anthony 187; Author Biographies 188