The Shepherd's Life Spiral-Bound | 2016-09-27

Old world meets new when a shepherd in the English Lake District impulsively starts a Twitter account and connects with the world.


A routine cell phone upgrade left author James Rebanks with a decent camera and a pre-loaded Twitter app-the tools to share his way of life with the entire planet. And what began as a tentative experiment became an international sensation.

James has worked the land for years, as did his father, and his father before him. His family has lived and farmed in the Lake District of Northern England as long as there have been written records. And while the land itself has inspired some of our greatest imaginations-Wordsworth, Coleridge, Beatrix Potter-we have rarely heard from the people who tend it. One Twitter account has changed all that. The Shepherd's Life is a memoir about growing up amidst a magical, storied landscape, coming of age in the 80s and 90s among hills that seem timeless, yet suffused with history. Broken into the four seasons, The Shepherd's Life chronicles the author's daily experiences-the joy of a new lamb, the sadness of an early death-bringing alive his family and their ancient way of life, which at times can seem irreconcilable with the modern world.

The Shepherd's Life is an intimate, original look from inside a seemingly ordinary life, one that celebrates the meaning of place, the ties of family to land, and the necessary beauty of the past.