The Snow Geese

by WilliamFiennes (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.25

  Snow geese spend their summers in the Canadian Arctic, on the tundra. Each autumn they migrate south, to Delaware, California and the Gulf of Mexico. In the spring they fly north again. William Fiennes decided to go with them and to write about his travels. What he produced turned out to be about very much more than geese. A blend of autobiography and reportage, its subject was also homecoming: the birds on their long journeys home, the grace of homecomings, the strange gravity that home exerts.

  The arc of Fiennes' extraordinary physical adventure formed the backbone for meditations on philosophy, natural science and personal memoir. The book thrums with ideas, with stories and anecdotes, with humankind as well as wild fowl, with the funny and observant insights of an assured and highly entertaining writer. The joy of being alive, of being on the move and - above all - of returning home, is poignantly captured in this intelligent, exuberant book, a debut of great delicacy and distinction.

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $3.25

  WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE

  SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE

  SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR

  One winter, after an enforced period of quiet, William Fiennes finds himself restless and yearning for adventure. Inspired by his reading about the migratory patterns of birds, he flies to Texas to find the million-strong flocks of snow geese and to follow them on their spring flight thousands of miles north to breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra. This mesmerizing book, already a classic, captures their journey with wisdom, humility and endless curiosity. It is a meditation on freedom of movement, on seeing the world anew, and on the joy of returning - indefinably changed.

  `Why are we drawn to birds, to landscape, to nature? It is for the sense of wonder - and in capturing that sense of wonder, Fiennes reminds us how desperately we all need it' Sunday Telegraph

  `The Snow Geese moved me as have few other recent books. No one who reads it is likely to continue to look at the world in the same way' Times Literary Supplement

  `A beautifully solitary and beautifully reflective book' Evening Standard

  `The descriptions of the geese and their environment are jaw-droppingly beautiful. But Fiennes' most remarkable talent is for describing the quotidian with such freshness that it is like seeing the world for the first time' Mail on Sunday

  `An inspired work of natural history and travel. A classic' Irish Independent