The Curious Life of the Cuckoo

John Lewis-Stempel

$22.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Doubleday
17 June 2025

Mathematics & Sciences; Birds (ornithology); Wildlife: birds & birdwatching; The countryside, country life

Our greatest nature writer explores the myths, legends, history and hidden world of one of our most secretive and masterfully duplicitous animals.

Is there any bird more mysterious than the cuckoo?

It is invariably heard, and not seen. And if seen, it is mistaken for a sharp-winged hawk. The female cuckoo - by a trick that borders on alchemy - is able to disguise its egg as another's. In Greek myth the god Zeus assumed the form of a cuckoo to seduce Hera.

But we forgive the cuckoo its con-artistry, because it is the true herald of spring. It is the bird that uplifts our wintered hearts, with that first two-note 'cuk-koo' unmistakable as it sounds across the country.

In The Curious Life of the Cuckoo, John Lewis-Stempel explains one of nature's greatest enigmas in vivid, lyrical prose, and celebrates this iconic bird.

By: John Lewis-Stempel
Imprint: Doubleday
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 205mm, Width: 133mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 198g
ISBN: 9780857526410
ISBN 10: 0857526413
Pages: 112
Publication Date: 17 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

John Lewis-Stempel is a farmer and 'Britain's finest living nature writer' (The Times). His books include the Sunday Times bestsellers Woodston, The Running Hare and The Wood. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow. In 2016 he was named Magazine Columnist of the Year for his column in Country Life. He farms cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Traditionally.