A Single Swallow
Following An Epic Journey From South Africa To South Wales
1st Edition
Published on 2. April 2009
336 pages
978-1-4090-7624-7 (ISBN)
Description
From the slums of Cape Town to the palaces of Algiers, through Pygmy villages where pineapples grow wild, to the Gulf of Guinea where the sea blazes with oil flares, across two continents and fourteen countries - this epic journey is nothing to swallows, they do it twice a year. But for Horatio Clare, writer and birdwatcher, it is the expedition of a lifetime.
Along the way he discovers old empires and modern tribes, a witch-doctor's recipe for stewed swallow, explains how to travel without money or a passport, and describes a terrifying incident involving three Spanish soldiers and a tiny orange dog. By trains, motorbikes, canoes, one camel and three ships, Clare follows the swallows from reed beds in South Africa, where millions roost in February, to a barn in Wales, where a pair nest in May.
Along the way he discovers old empires and modern tribes, a witch-doctor's recipe for stewed swallow, explains how to travel without money or a passport, and describes a terrifying incident involving three Spanish soldiers and a tiny orange dog. By trains, motorbikes, canoes, one camel and three ships, Clare follows the swallows from reed beds in South Africa, where millions roost in February, to a barn in Wales, where a pair nest in May.
Reviews / Votes
Clare's extraordinary and mesmerising odyssey following the migration of the swallow from South Africa to South Wales -- Annabel Goldie * Herald * A gifted and lyrical travel writer * Financial Times * The author deploys some fine lyrical writing and a gift for inventive, unexpected metaphor ... Clare's other great asset is his brave, modern, multicultural and open-hearted approach to travel itself -- Mark Cocker * Guardian * Fizzingly entertaining. His own prose has something of their flight: daring, sharp-edged, fast-moving, graceful, full of surprises. This is a great adventure, thrillingly realised -- Tom Fort * Literary Review * Remarkably insightful and entertaining, with Clare proving himself to be the most enthusiastic, open-minded, intelligent and incorrigibly romantic of travellers * Mail on Sunday * Clare has produced an enthusiastic, often elegiac, chronicle of his encounters with the swallows -- Brian Schofield * The Sunday Times * His eye for detail and his elegant pen give flavour of each country he crosses: great veldt and high plateaux, Congo's "green vastness", the "sandy seas" of the Sahel and, finally, the fertile plain of the north African coast * The Economist * The resulting book, travel writing at its very best, is enthralling, passionate, hair-raising, quirky, hilarious, informative, occasionally mad and utterly, utterly brilliant... irresistible stuff. -- Val Hennessy * Daily Mail * Horatio Clare pays tribute to the extraordinary migratory journeys of the swallow...a book that combines travel with natural history * Metro * It's graphically done, making me feel I was with him all the way * The Sunday Telegraph, Seven Magazine *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
File size
1,33 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4090-7624-7 (9781409076247)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2010
Vintage
€14.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Horatio Clare is the bestselling author of numerous books including the memoirs Running for the Hills and Truant and the travel books A Single Swallow, Down to the Sea in Ships, Orison for a Curlew, Icebreaker and The Light in the Dark. His books for children include Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot and Aubrey and the Terrible Ladybirds. Horatio's essays and reviews appear on BBC radio and in the Financial Times, the Observer and the Spectator, among other publications. He lives with his family in West Yorkshire.
