The Shepherd's Life
A Tale of the Lake District
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4.3 • 85 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
'Affectionate, evocative, illuminating. A story of survival - of a flock, a landscape and a disappearing way of life. I love this book' Nigel Slater
'Triumphant, a pastoral for the 21st century' Helen Davies, Sunday Times, Books of the Year
'The nature publishing sensation of the year, unsentimental yet luminous' Melissa Harrison, The Times, Books of the Year
Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations. Their way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand, and has been for hundreds of years. A Viking would understand the work they do: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the fells.
Customer Reviews
Wistful but progressive
A great book that reminds you that family, community and the landscape still have a huge part to play in life. This is an honest account of farming in the Lake District, the reality of muck and death is laid bare but then the tranquil moments of spring and summer clear the air. Read it and feel yourself immersed into a dying art that most of us barely acknowledge exists.
The Shepard’s life
This is a very unusual and informative account of a way of life that few in the modern world are ever likely to know. It is well written in the first person and grates at times in a self congratulatory manner The landscape appears and that compensates for its faults it’s well worth reading and i thoroughly enjoyed it.
A wonderful look at at life in the Lake District
I heard James being interviewed, and decided to buy the book. I wasn't disappointed, it is a look at one families life struggles running a sheep farm in the Lake District.
It is funny, in parts, but also doesn't pull any punches at the harder/sadder parts.
A great read.