Paperback
Ravens return, mirroring our complex, wild, and foreboding relationship.

A Shadow Above

The Fall and Rise of the Raven

$39.15

  • Paperback

    272 pages

  • Release Date

    1 October 2019

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Summary

For millennia, we have tried to explain ourselves using the raven as a symbol. It occupies a unique place in British history and has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape.

The raven’s hulking black shape has come to represent many things: death, all-seeing power, the underworld, and a wildness that remains deep within us. Legend has it that the fate of the nation rests upon the raven, and should the resident birds ever leave the Tower of London then the ent…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781472940292
ISBN-10:1472940296
Author:Joe Shute
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:Bloomsbury Wildlife
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:272
Release Date:1 October 2019
Weight:192g
Dimensions:20mm x 128mm x 198mm
A-Format
B-Format
A Shadow Above by Joe Shute - ISBN: 9781472940292
128 × 198 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

Shute writes superbly and his book is both evocative and provocative

Early in the book, the author makes a confession: ‘I came to birds late’. Joe Shute may have misspent his adolescence - youth without ornithology is, by definition, wasted - but he’s made up for it. This hymn to Corvus corax is the work of a birdman – John Lewis-Stempel * Country Life *
Shute writes superbly and his book is both evocative and provocative – Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *
Shute’s enthusiasm, although lightly worn, is deeply infectious […] he is never pretentious or aggrandising. At his best, he writes with a charming, immediate humanity – Robert Leigh-Pemberton * Daily Telegraph *
He has brought the raven out of the shadow into the light – John Lewis-Stempel * Country Life *
Filled with glimpses of ravens in the wild, woven together with fascinating historical details, this book sheds light on the role the bird has played in the life of these islands. Ravens appear in many guises: harbingers of death, but also heralds of new beginnings; thieves and murderers, but also affectionate and loyal. Brilliant! – Michael Morpurgo * The Week *

About The Author

Joe Shute

JOE SHUTE is an author and journalist with a passion for the natural world. He studied history at Leeds University, and currently works as a senior staff feature writer at The Telegraph. Before joining the newspaper, Joe was the crime correspondent for The Yorkshire Post. He lives with his wife in Sheffield, on the edge of the Peak District.

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