With an introduction by Robert Macfarlane

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize.

I had attached myself to the birds. I couldn't move on until the birds moved on, and the birds couldn't move on without the spring.

One winter, after an enforced period of recuperation, William Fiennes finds himself restless and yearning for adventure. He travels to Texas, where he begins a quest to trace the million-strong flocks of snow geese making their spring flight thousands of miles north to the Arctic tundra. On his epic journey he meets people from every walk of life, from ex-nuns to train fanatics, and their stories resound with the longing to arrive at the right place in the world.

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize, The Snow Geese is a poignant and lyrical paean to the richness and wonder of the world around us. A unique blend of autobiography, travel and nature writing, this is a classic tale of belonging and the inescapable lure of home.

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize

About the Author
William Fiennes is the author of The Snow Geese and The Music Room. He was Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and the recipient of a Somerset Maugham Award. He lives in London.

Reviews
Why are we drawn to birds, to landscape, to nature? It is for the sense of wonder - and in capturing that sense of wonder, Fiennes reminds us how desperately we all need it * Sunday Telegraph *
The Snow Geese moved me as have few other recent books. No one who reads it is likely to continue to look at the world in the same way * Times Literary Supplement *
A beautifully solitary and beautifully reflective book * Evening Standard *
The descriptions of the geese and their environment are jaw-droppingly beautiful. But Fiennes' most remarkable talent is for describing the quotidian with such freshness that it is like seeing the world for the first time * Mail on Sunday *
An inspired work of natural history and travel. A classic * Irish Independent *
His sharp eye and his inventive similes take us everywhere with him . . . an unmistakably gifted writer * The Times *


Awards
Winner of Somerset Maugham Award 2003 (UK) and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2003 (UK). Short-listed for BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize 2002 (UK). Long-listed for Guardian First Book Award 2002 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781447275442
Author William Fiennes
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 188g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 129mm * 18mm