The Freewood years

The Second World War was nearing its end and Mary Denyer and her eleven-year-old son, John, were living in a small, thatched cottage in Freewood, Suffolk.

They immersed themselves in the wildlife of the wood and their cottage became home to a succession of wounded or orphaned animals, including weasels, squirrels, badgers and a variety of birds.

The Freewood Years is Mary Denyer's enchanting memoir of this time, written after the war ended but not published until 1998.

Together, Mary and her son recreate an unforgettable tableau of a world within a world: of a beautiful, isolated environment untouched by the war.

Above all, it is the story of a great and unsentimental love for wildlife undimmed by time.