Through the story of one man, Caleb Bawcombe, a shepherd whose flocks graze the Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset borders, we meet men and women of humble birth, poachers, gypsies, farmers and labourers striving to survive on the land. As we read, the cumulative affect of their stories becomes much more than a record of rural life. It reads like a lost hymn, sung by people whose lives were disregarded and whose histories are now forgotten.
W.H. Hudson's masterful book, merging fiction, reminiscence, memoir and oral history, was recognised as a classic when it was first published in 1910. It remains so today. Little Toller's new edition includes the superb illustrations of Howard Phipps.