Tarka the Otter [Paperback]

A classic of nature writing beloved by Rachel Carson, Ted Hughes, and Thomas Hardy.

Tarka the Otter is one of the defining masterpieces of modern nature writing, a model for books like J. A. Baker’s The Peregrine that seek to transcend the boundaries between the human and the animal worlds. Henry Williamson’s tale of the struggle for survival draws on his years of observing otters in the wild. It is also thought to reflect his traumatic experiences in the First World War.“If Tarka allowed for the darkness of the world, it also showed the potential wonder in every tiny detail of existence.” —Barra Ó Seaghdha, Dublin Review of Books

“It is a rare book in which the preface alone is worth the price of admission. . . . The rest of the book indelibly follows the life of Tarka the otter, and Williamson has a boy’s deep love of the English country.” —Priyanka Kumar, Rumpus

“Williamson’s animals are not people, they are not symbols, and they do not speak. They are life itself, the force that through the green fuse drives the flower, manifesting here as a heron, there as an otter, and there again as Deadlock, the slavering, otter-hunting hound. Forget the news; read Williamson, and plunge into the back-brain.” — James Parker, The Atlantic

“Reading ‘Tarka the Otter’ is a beautiful, heady experience—like spending two years wandering a riverbank in rural England. . . . There’s no anthropomorphizing here—just an otter’s life, with all its perils and joys.” —Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis StarTribune