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The Company of Owls

Polly Atkin

$39.99

Hardback

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English
Elliott & Thompson Limited
15 January 2025
In the woods above Polly Atkin’s home in Grasmere, Cumbria live the tawny owls she calls her neighbours. Each night, they come down to her cottage at dusk, calling out as night falls – in particular a trio of owlets she watches grow from fledglings to young adults in 2023.

As the antics of the owl siblings develop – their capacity to play, to bicker, to share and to protect – they encourage her to think differently about some of the big needs of all our lives: solitude and companionship, care and belonging, rest and retreat.

The other four species of owls that live wild in Cumbria swoop through the pages, including the day-hunting short-eared owl, but as much as anything they highlight the unusual access Atkin has to the tawny owls of Grasmere. And into the frame step questions about all sorts of relationships, from how we feel when in darkness to our entanglement with the digital world and its ability to connect us across continents.

THE COMPANY OF OWLS is a love song to owls – in general, and particular – and a reflection on what makes them, and us, unique and distinctive. It’s a call to find joy in unexpected places and times. It is a lesson in learning to listen – to really listen – in a world full of noise.
By:  
Imprint:   Elliott & Thompson Limited
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 138mm, 
ISBN:   9781783968145
ISBN 10:   1783968141
Pages:   224
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Polly Atkin (FRSL) is a poet and nonfiction writer. She has published three poetry pamphlets and two collections – Basic Nest Architecture (Seren: 2017) and Much With Body (Seren: 2021). Her nonfiction includes Recovering Dorothy: The Hidden Life of Dorothy Wordsworth (Saraband: 2021), a Barbellion-longlisted biography of Dorothy’s later life and illness, and a memoir exploring place, belonging and disability, Some Of Us Just Fall: On Nature and Not Getting Better (Sceptre: 2023). She works as a freelancer from her home in the English Lake District. In 2023 she and her partner took ownership of historic Grasmere bookshop Sam Read Bookseller.

Reviews for The Company of Owls

‘A beautiful guide to moving through this world with tender curiosity, joy and reflection’ Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean ‘I will be thinking about the owls and the landscape of this book for a long time to come’ Jessica J. Lee, author of Dispersals ‘I couldn’t put down this warm and comforting, beautiful book’ Ajay Tegala, author of Wetland Diaries


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