As Kingfishers Catch Fire : Birds & Books

'A magical book: an inimitable fusion of ornithology, literary anthology and autobiography' Tom Holland'Delightful . . . an original look at the literature inspired by Britain's birdlife' the Guardian, Best Nature Books of 2017When Alex Preston was 15, he stopped being a birdwatcher.

Adolescence and the scorn of his peers made him put away his binoculars, leave behind the hides and the nature reserves and the quiet companionship of his fellow birders.

His love of birds didn't disappear though. Rather, it went underground, and he began birdwatching in the books that he read, creating his own personal anthology of nature writing that brought the birds of his childhood back to brilliant life.

Looking for moments 'when heart and bird are one', Preston weaves the very best writing about birds into a personal and eccentric narrative that is as much about the joy of reading and writing as it is about the thrill of wildlife.

Moving from the 'high requiem' of Keats's nightingale to the crow-strewn sky at the end of Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, from Ted Hughes's brooding 'Hawk in the Rain' to the giddy anthropomorphism of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, this is a book that will make you look at birds, at the world, in a newer, richer light.

Beautifully illustrated and illuminated by the celebrated graphic artist Neil Gower, As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a book to love and to hold, to return to again and again, to marvel at the way that authors across the centuries have captured the endless grace and variety of birds. 'As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a memoir/gallimaufry of ornithological obsession by Alex Preston.

He watches birds in the sky and on the page darting between myths, stories and memoir like a swift.

The characterful illustrations by Neil Gower add a whole new dimension to this gorgeous book' Damian Barr, Guardian Best Books of 2017