The Owl Eye Magazine Issue 9

Press Release
OWL SENSE
Miriam Darlington
8 February 2018, £15.99 hardback / £10.99 e-book
‘A beautiful book; wise and sharp-eared as its subject.’
Robert MacFarlane
Owls have captivated the human imagination for millennia. We have fixated
on this night hunter as predator, messenger, emblem of wisdom or portent
of doom. In Owl Sense, Miriam Darlington sets out to tell a new story.
Her fieldwork begins with wild encounters in the British Isles, on the owl walks
she takes with her teenage son Benji. From here, Darlington seeks to identify
every European species of this charismatic and elusive bird, on a journey that
will take her from southern Spain through France, Serbia and Finland, and to the
frosted borders of the Arctic.
Along the way, however, Benji succumbs to a mysterious and disabling illness,
and her owl quest soon becomes entangled with the search for his cure.
Owl Sense is a book about the wild places in nature and in the unpredictable
course of our human lives. In her watching and deep listening to owls in the
natural world, Darlington cleaves myth from reality and brings the strangeness
and magnificence of these creatures to life.
‘Otter Country is proper nature writing, revealing as much about the writer’s
obsession with otters as of the animal itself and leaving us in awe of both.’
Sir John Lister-Kaye
Miriam Darlington was born in Lewes, Sussex, and now lives in Totnes with her
two dogs, one cat, two children, and one husband. She has tracked and studied
wildlife for most of her life and is an avid bird-watcher, expert owl-finder, and top
otter-spotter. She has a degree in Modern Languages, a PhD in Nature Writing,
a certificate in Field Ecology and is a Nature Notebook columnist at The Times.
Her first book, Otter Country, was published in 2012. She currently teaches
Creative Writing at Plymouth University and spends the rest of her time writing
and researching about wildlife and the people in its grasp.
For any further information please contact Kate Burton, Publicity Manager,
on 020 7927 3887 or email kate.burton@faber.co.uk
A BBC Radio 4
Book of the Week
‘An enchanting
book. Natural,
cultural and
personal insights
spark off each
other.’
Tristan Gooley
‘Miriam Darlington’s
quest to better know
of these enigmatic,
beautiful and
fascinating birds is
a delight to read. In
these times of
heightened
opportunity and
threat, her vision,
sensitivity and word
craft are vital.’
Caspar Henderson
Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, 74-77 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DA
T : 020 7927 3800 F : 020 7927 3801 Registered Number : 944703
www.faberandfaber.com
@FaberBooks
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