The classic account of otters in the Scottish highlands and the naturalist who cared for them there.
While touring the Iraqi marshes, Gavin Maxwell was captivated by an otter and became a devoted advocate of and spokesman for the species. Maxwell moved to a remote house in the Scottish highlands, co-habiting there with three otters and living an idyllic and isolated life at least for a while. Fate, fame, and fire conspired against this paradise, and it, too, came to an end, though the journey was filled with incident and wonder.
An extraordinarily evocative writer, Maxwell was also talented as an artist. His sinuous line drawings of these amphibious and engaging creatures, and the homes they occupied, illustrate his story.
This volume weaves together the Scottish otter stories from Gavin Maxwell's three non-fiction books, Ring of Bright Water (1960), The Rocks Remain (1963), and Raven Meet Thy Brother (1969). Together they stand as a lasting tribute to a man, his work, and his passion for another species. This is for any reader who loves memoirs, nature, and wildlife.
Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 327 pages
ISBN-10: 156792400X
Item Weight: 0.98 lbs
Dimensions: 6.0 x 0.9 x 9.0 inches
Gavin Maxwell was to otters what Joy Adamson was to lions, Dian Fossey to gorillas, Jane Goodall to chimpanzees and Grey Owl to beavers. Ring of Bright Water was one of the twentieth-century's most popular wildlife books (top of the U.S. bestseller lists for a year, over two million sold worldwide) and was habitually bracketed with Thoreau's Walden, Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne and Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter. -Douglas Botting, Gavin Maxwell: A Life
One of the outstanding wildlife books of all time. -The New York Herald Tribune
Likely outside of assigned reading, in many ways, Gavin Maxwell is still the most quintessential of UK writers. Born in Scotland during the World War I, he is most remembered for making otters an appealing pet in his Ring of Bright Water trilogy. Based on Maxwell's ongoing adventures with a series of otters he took into his home over the years, Bright Water and its sequels, The Rocks Remain and Raven Seek Thy Brother, manage to combine all the humor of Gerald Durrell with the heartrending truth of James Herriot. Yes, otters are very cute, but also otters die, sometimes quite horrifically. (No, I'm not happy about that, but knowing it going in helps a lot.) What's interesting about Maxwell's stories is that his is not a picture of domestic bliss; the wild animals might be domesticated, but the wild remains. . . . For a picture of one man's very complicated life in mid century Britain, Maxwell is certainly a must read. There is something endlessly endearing about how hard he tried to live a life only he could imagine possible. Plus, it's just nice to know that otters truly are as charismatic as many of us had always hoped. Kudos to David R. Godine for bringing Maxwell's stories to a new generation in one volume that includes the author's sweet pencil drawings as well. -Bookslut
Gavin Maxwell was raised in a small village in southwestern Scotland, where he first became enamored with the natural world. He retained his love of exploring into adulthood, when he toured the reed marshes of Southern Iraq. He caught an otter there and brought it back to his remote home in Sandaig, Scotland. The otter became the subject of his most famous book, Ring of Bright Water which sold more than a million copies.
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