TARKA THE OTTER

With a new Introduction by Jeremy Gavron ''The supreme writer of the English countryside'' Christopher Somerville, Daily Telegraph In the wild there is no safety. The otter club Tarka grows up with his mother and sisters, learning to swim, catch fish – and to fear the cry of the hunter and the flash of the metal trap. Soon he must fend for himself, travelling through rivers, woods, moors, ponds and out to sea, sometimes with the female otters White-tip and Greymuzzle, always on the run. Eventually, chased by a pack of hounds, he meets his nemesis, the fearsome dog Deadlock, and must fight for his life. Tarka the Otter depicts a fierce struggle for survival in the wild that also carries echoes of the author''s experiences of the First World War. The result of years spent observing otters in north Devon, it is a celebration of life, the eternal rhythms of nature and the English countryside.