Ancient trees, some over a thousand years old, are dotted around the British Isles, the last survivors of a lost world. Now, new scientific studies of these trees and of fossilised forests and of our oldest wooden artifacts can help us to understand the many woodlands that have disappeared from our landscapes.
‘This is a book about searching in the best sense – full of ideas, beauty, doubt and adventures’ ELIZABETH KOLBERT
‘Fascinating and masterfully written’ ALICE WINN
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Islands of Abandonment, comes a new book about our relationship to the natural world.
‘Prose that is precise and beautiful as northern light … this book is an absolute delight’ MOYA CANNON
Join David Gange on a seabound journey along Atlantic coasts and islands, exploring places and ways of life that have been built on small rowed or paddled boats.
‘A towering achievement’ MERVE EMRE
NYT Best New Books of 2026
A majestic cultural and environmental history that reveals how forests have made – and resisted – Russia’s many empires.
HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘The bothy embrace is addictive’ ADAM NICOLSON
‘Will have you reaching for your boots’ CAL FLYN
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A beach-goer’s pocket companion for lazy days on the shore, or for the armchair beachcomber recalling the feel of sand between their toes. Noticing and collecting shells is an irresistible and accessible activity for pretty much everyone who goes to the beach, young or old, specialist, or first-timer.
‘Mind-shifting, heart-lifting’ ISABELLA TREE
‘Inspiring and essential’ ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS
‘As entertaining as it is enlightening’ INDEPENDENT, ★★★★★
‘A surprising page-turner, full of humour and startling details’ THE TIMES
‘If I read a better history this year, I will be lucky’ TOM HOLLAND
‘An astonishing tour de force’ SPECTATOR
Longlisted for the 2024 Highland Book Prize
‘Windswept is a wonderful work, prose painted in bold, bright strokes like a Scottish Colourist’s canvas’ ROBERT MACFARLANE
‘An instant classic of British nature-writing’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
This is a tale of human obsession, one intrepid tuna, the dedicated fisherman who caught and set her free, the promises and limits of ocean science and the big truth of how our insatiable appetite for bluefin transformed a cottage industry into a global dilemma.
This is a journey through time and water, to the bottom of the ocean and the future of our planet.
Ponds and pools are a common feature of our landscape – there are at least ten times as many ponds as lakes in the UK – and they are also important wildlife habitats. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed account of these freshwater habitats.
An illuminating manifesto on ancient forests: how they adapt to climate change by passing their wisdom through generations, and why our future lies in protecting them.
Enter a world of ancient secrets, old money, new ambitions and the discovery of priceless treasure in this revelatory new biography.
‘My name is Mike and I am a map addict. There, it’s said…’
