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Once I Was You -- Adapted for Young Readers: Finding My Voice and Passing the Mic
by Maria HinojosaEmmy Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Maria Hinojosa has created a brand-new, unique version of her adult memoir, which was an NPR Best Book of 2020, for young readers, blending her story with perspectives on history in the vein of Jason Reynolds&’s Stamped.&“There is no such thing as an illegal human being.&” Maria Hinojosa is an Emmy Award–winning journalist, a bestselling author, and was the first Latina to found a national independent nonprofit newsroom in the United States. But before all that, she was a girl with big hair and even bigger dreams. Born in Mexico and raised in the vibrant neighborhood of Hyde Park, Chicago, Maria was always looking for ways to better understand the world around her—and where she fit into it. Here, she combines stories from her life, beginning with her family&’s harrowing experience of immigration, with truths about the United States&’s long and complicated relationship with the people who cross its borders, by choice or by force. Funny, frank, and thought-provoking, Maria&’s voice is one you will want to listen to again and again.
Once I Was You: A Memoir (Atria Espanol Ser.)
by Maria HinojosaNPR&’s Best Books of 2020 BookPage&’s Best Books of 2020 Real Simple&’s Best Books of 2020 Boston.com readers voted one of Best Books of 2020 &“Anyone striving to understand and improve this country should read her story.&” —Gloria Steinem, author of My Life on the Road The Emmy Award–winning journalist and anchor of NPR&’s Latino USA tells the story of immigration in America through her family&’s experiences and decades of reporting, painting an unflinching portrait of a country in crisis in this memoir that is &“quite simply beautiful, written in Maria Hinojosa&’s honest, passionate voice&” (BookPage).Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who, for nearly thirty years, has reported on stories and communities in America that often go ignored by the mainstream media—from tales of hope in the South Bronx to the unseen victims of the War on Terror and the first detention camps in the US. Bestselling author Julia Álvarez has called her &“one of the most important, respected, and beloved cultural leaders in the Latinx community.&” In Once I Was You, Maria shares her intimate experience growing up Mexican American on the South Side of Chicago. She offers a personal and illuminating account of how the rhetoric around immigration has not only long informed American attitudes toward outsiders, but also sanctioned willful negligence and profiteering at the expense of our country&’s most vulnerable populations—charging us with the broken system we have today. An urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all, this honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the truth. Also available in Spanish as Una vez fui tú.
Once I Was a Princess: A Mother's Worst Nightmare
by Jacqueline PascarlCan you imagine what it would be like to be swept off your feet by a royal prince to live a charmed life in the marble palaces of an oil-rich nation - and then to watch your fairy-tale romance turn into a nightmare of Islamic superstition, isolation, betrayal and abuse? What would you do if you managed to escape your life of torment - and then your children were kidnapped by their own father? This is what happened to Jacqueline Pascarl.In Once I Was a Princess, Jacqueline recounts her part in this controversial, headline-grabbing international drama with heart-rending honesty.
Once More Around the Park: A Baseball Reader
by Roger AngellThis essay collection covers more than forty years of history, fandom, and insider analysis from &“the best baseball writer of our time—maybe ever&” (Newsweek) The celebrated baseball chronicler has selected his favorite pieces from the last forty years to create Once More Around the Park, a definitive volume of his most memorable work. Here are the extraordinary games Roger Angell has witnessed and written about, as well as compelling insights that deepen our love and understanding of the sport. This book includes such timeless essays as &“The Interior Stadium,&” on the complex attractions of baseball; &“In the Country,&” on a friendship that began with a fan letter and took Angell far from the big stadiums and big money; &“The Arms Talks,&” on contemporary pitching strategy and the arrival of the split-finger delivery; and many others. Angell&’s conversations with past and present players and managers, scouts and coaches, rookies and Hall of Famers enhance his expertise and critical appreciation, defining him as &“baseball&’s most eloquent analyst&” (The New York Times Book Review).
Once More We Saw Stars: A Memoir
by Jayson Greene<P><P>For readers of The Bright Hour and When Breath Becomes Air, a moving, transcendent memoir of loss and a stunning exploration of marriage in the wake of unimaginable grief. <P><P>As the book opens: two-year-old Greta Greene is sitting with her grandmother on a park bench on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A brick crumbles from a windowsill overhead, striking her unconscious, and she is immediately rushed to the hospital. <P><P>But although it begins with this event and with the anguish Jayson and his wife, Stacy, confront in the wake of their daughter's trauma and the hours leading up to her death, Once More We Saw Stars quickly becomes a narrative that is as much about hope and healing as it is about grief and loss. <P><P>Jayson recognizes, even in the midst of his ordeal, that there will be a life for him beyond it--that if only he can continue moving forward, from one moment to the next, he will survive what seems unsurvivable. <P><P>With raw honesty, deep emotion, and exquisite tenderness, he captures both the fragility of life and absoluteness of death, and most important of all, the unconquerable power of love. This is an unforgettable memoir of courage and transformation--and a book that will change the way you look at the world.
Once More We Saw Stars: A Memoir of Life and Love After Unimaginable Loss - as listed in Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019
by Jayson GreeneListed in Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019'A gripping and beautiful book about the power of love in the face of unimaginable loss' Cheryl Strayed'Extraordinary . . . both heartbreaking and life-affirming . . . you will find your heart magically expanded'Mail on Sunday'Greene's account of his loss is remarkably uplifting. It's hard-won proof that love can survive our worst fears and our darkest, most desperate emotions.'Daily Mail'This minutely observed memoir will surely be helpful to people whose world changes in an instant . . . a hopeful book in many ways'The Times'Wonderful writing, brave, unbearably sad'Adam KayTwo-year-old Greta Greene is sitting chatting with her grandmother on a park bench in New York when a brick crumbles from a windowsill overhead and strikes her unconscious. As she is rushed to hospital in the hours before her death Once More We Stars leads us into the unimaginable.Her father Jayson and mother Stacy begin a painful journey that is as much about hope and healing as it is grief and loss. Even in the midst of his ordeal, Jayson recognises that there will be a life for him beyond it - if he can only continue moving forward, from one moment to the next, he will survive what seems un-survivable. With raw honesty, deep emotion, and exquisite tenderness, he captures the fragility of life and the absoluteness of death, and most important of all, the unconquerable power of love. This is an unforgettable memoir of courage and transformation - and a book that will change the way you look at the world.
Once Out of Nature: Augustine on Time and the Body
by Andrea NightingaleOnce Out of Nature offers an original interpretation of Augustine’s theory of time and embodiment. Andrea Nightingale draws on philosophy, sociology, literary theory, and social history to analyze Augustine’s conception of temporality, eternity, and the human and transhuman condition. In Nightingale’s view, the notion of embodiment illuminates a set of problems much larger than the body itself: it captures the human experience of being an embodied soul dwelling on earth. In Augustine’s writings, humans live both in and out of nature—exiled from Eden and punished by mortality, they are “resident aliens” on earth. While the human body is subject to earthly time, the human mind is governed by what Nightingale calls psychic time. For the human psyche always stretches away from the present moment—where the physical body persists—into memories and expectations. As Nightingale explains, while the body is present in the here and now, the psyche cannot experience self-presence. Thus, for Augustine, the human being dwells in two distinct time zones, in earthly time and in psychic time. The human self, then, is a moving target. Adam, Eve, and the resurrected saints, by contrast, live outside of time and nature: these transhumans dwell in an everlasting present. Nightingale connects Augustine’s views to contemporary debates about transhumans and suggests that Augustine’s thought reflects our own ambivalent relationship with our bodies and the earth. Once Out of Nature offers a compelling invitation to ponder the boundaries of the human.
Once Ransomed
by Dick ParkerBack Cover: Tane Shannon let it all sink in: the man, the mask, the gun, the car, the drive, the woods. For the first time she knew she might not go home alive. Something in her kidnapper's plan would go wrong and he would have to shoot her or burn the trailer with her in it. At that moment of realization, her blood ran ice cold. If she died tonight... Once Ransomed: A True Story of Kidnapping and Redemption is the powerful story of an abduction that gripped Gainesville, Georgia, in August 1992. Tane Shannon had been taken from her home at gunpoint while her husband was at his office and her two children napped. What Gainesville did not know, and what Tane would not understand until deep into the night, was God's plan of intervention to change lives-and to save hers.
Once There Was a City Named Dilli
by Intizar HussainThe history of Delhi has been told and retold many times. Often the intent is to use history as an ideological tool for staking a claim to the present of the city. In Intizar Husain&’s retelling, it is the tale itself that becomes delectable. A popular recital that highlights the forgotten nuances of the story, Once There was a City Named Dilli, is a celebration of the people and culture that made the city unforgettable. Forts, walled cities, bazaars, diwan khanas, durbars, and the Yamuna itself come alive in this ode to a capital serenaded and ravaged by powerful kings and chieftains over time.
Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo and the Apache Wars
by David RobertsOf the many tales of conflict and warfare between the U.S. government and the Indian tribes, perhaps none is more dramatic or revealing than the story of the Apache wars. Those wars were the final episode in the U.S. government's subjugation of the indigenous peoples; the surrender of Geronimo in 1886 effectively ended the Indian wars. As Anglo settlers moved into the Southwest in the mid-1800s, skirmishes with the Indians intensified. The Apaches were the most feared of the Southwestern tribes, both by Anglos and by other Indians. Under the leadership of the charismatic Cochise, the various Apache groups unified in opposition to settlers and to U.S. Army patrols. Although soldiers lured Cochise into a trap through trickery, he quickly escaped and was never recaptured. Shortly before Cochise's death, General George Crook was sent to the Southwest to subdue the Apaches and settle them onto reservations. Crook's predecessors had had little luck against the Apaches, who seemed to be able to melt into their mountain homelands when pursued. But Crook began using as scouts Apaches who had agreed to surrender and move to reservations. Thanks to the tracking skills of these Apache scouts, Crook was able effectively to pursue the free Apaches now under the leadership of Geronimo and other warriors. Geronimo, upset about the loss of his freedom, accepted the reservation for months at a time, only to break out and resume his resistance. In September 1886, recognizing the hopelessness of endless flight, he surrendered for good, having successfully eluded one-fourth of the U.S. Army. Once They Moved Like the Wind is the epic story of the Apache campaign, told with sympathy and understanding. David Roberts recognizes that in struggling to save their land, the Apaches were fighting to preserve their way of life. Evenhandedly, he describes the sorry history of the reservations, where the Apaches were deceived and abused by the U.S. government and its agents, while at the same time he acknowledges reliable contemporary sources that reported on the Apaches' cruelty. Using historical archives and contemporary accounts, David Roberts has written an original, stirring account of the last years of the free Apaches.
Once Upon A Time In The West...Country
by Tony HawksYou can take the man out of the city, but is the countryside ready for him? Comedian and born and bred townie, Tony Hawks is not afraid of a challenge - or indeed a good bet. He's hitchhiked round Ireland with a fridge and taken on the Moldovan football team at tennis, one by one. Now the time has come for his greatest gamble yet - turning his back on comfortable city life to move to the wilds of the West Country.With his partner Fran in tow and their first child on the way, he embraces the rituals of village life with often absurd and hilarious results, introducing us to an ensemble of eclectic characters along the way. One minute he's taking part in a calamitous tractor run, the next he's chairing a village meeting, but of course he still finds time for one last solo adventure before fatherhood arrives - cycling coast to coast with a mini pig called Titch.In the epic battle of man vs countryside, who will win out?
Once Upon A Time In The West...Country
by Tony HawksYou can take the man out of the city, but is the countryside ready for him? Comedian and born and bred townie, Tony Hawks is not afraid of a challenge - or indeed a good bet. He's hitchhiked round Ireland with a fridge and taken on the Moldovan football team at tennis, one by one. Now the time has come for his greatest gamble yet - turning his back on comfortable city life to move to the wilds of the West Country.With his partner Fran in tow and their first child on the way, he embraces the rituals of village life with often absurd and hilarious results, introducing us to an ensemble of eclectic characters along the way. One minute he's taking part in a calamitous tractor run, the next he's chairing a village meeting, but of course he still finds time for one last solo adventure before fatherhood arrives - cycling coast to coast with a mini pig called Titch.In the epic battle of man vs countryside, who will win out?
Once Upon A Time In The West...Country
by Tony HawksYou can take the man out of the city, but is the countryside ready for him? Comedian and born and bred townie, Tony Hawks is not afraid of a challenge - or indeed a good bet. He's hitchhiked round Ireland with a fridge and taken on the Moldovan football team at tennis, one by one. Now the time has come for his greatest gamble yet - turning his back on comfortable city life to move to the wilds of the West Country.With his partner Fran in tow and their first child on the way, he embraces the rituals of village life with often absurd and hilarious results, introducing us to an ensemble of eclectic characters along the way. One minute he's taking part in a calamitous tractor run, the next he's chairing a village meeting, but of course he still finds time for one last solo adventure before fatherhood arrives - cycling coast to coast with a mini pig called Titch.In the epic battle of man vs countryside, who will win out?(P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton
Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored
by Clifton TaulbertIn this beautifully evocative tale of life in the segregated South, Clifton L. Taulbert looks back at his "colored" childhood with deep pride, striking honesty, and unusual affection. Undaunted by the segregation, Taulbert's aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and friends are a loving, dignified, and humorous lot. Together they instill in young Taulbert a deep sense of community, optimism, and self-worth. Whether trying to pick 200 pounds of cotton in one day, eagerly awaiting the yearly arrival of the minstrel show and the chance to see the beautiful colored ladies on stage, or learning a life lesson from his grandfather, Taulbert had faith that, despite the hardships of his young life, he could realize his dreams.
Once Upon A Time in Compton: From Gangsta Rap To Gang Wars... The Murders Of Tupac And Biggie... . This Is The Story Of Two Men At The Center Of It All
by Lolita Files Robert Ladd Tim BrennanFrom Gangsta rap to gang wars and everything in between…. Former Compton police officers Tim Brennan and Robert Ladd have seen it all….. And now, they’re telling all….. For twenty years, gang unit detectives Tim Brennan and Robert Ladd patrolled the streets of Compton. They witnessed the birth and rise of gangsta rap with acts they knew personally, such as N.W.A and D.J. Quik; dealt firsthand with the chaos of the L.A. riots, its aftermath, and the gang truce that followed; were involved in the investigations of the murders of hip-hop stars Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and were major players in an all-out tug-of-war with City Hall that ultimately resulted in the permanent shut-down of the Compton Police Department. Through it all, they developed an intricate knowledge of gangs and the streets and a methodology that has been implemented by local law enforcement agencies across the country. Their compassionate and fair approach to community policing earned them the respect of citizens and gangbangers alike. This story - told with bestselling author Lolita Files, whose research with Brennan and Ladd has spanned over four years - is a firsthand glimpse into a world during an era many have heard about in song and legend, but have rarely had the opportunity to witness at ground level, from the inside out, through the eyes of two men who witnessed and experienced it all.
Once Upon A Tyne: Our story celebrating 30 years together on telly
by Declan Donnelly Anthony McPartlinTHE HILARIOUS AND HEARTWARMING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Ant and Dec hold a special place in the hearts of TV viewers everywhere. This is their epic story, with never-before-seen photography and the very best tales from their 30 years in TV. Ant: As the old Chinese proverb says, 'Good things come in pairs'. Dec: And as another Chinese proverb says, 'If you've been in a double act with your best mate for thirty years, why not write a book about all your most memorable moments in three decades of showbusiness?' Ant: Less catchy that one, isn't it? Dec: But no less true. And after three decades together, we're writing that book. Covering everything from a pirate radio storyline in Byker Grove through to the biggest shows on telly, this is our story. Ant: Thirty years, eh? Amazing. Dec: Absolutely. Especially when you consider we are both still 27 years old.From their modest beginnings in Byker Grove through to their "unique" time as pop stars and an award-laden TV career, the last three decades have flown by in the blink of an eye. They've also featured an incredible cast of supporting characters, including their first scriptwriter (an unknown comedian called David Walliams), Saturday night fun and games with countless Hollywood A-listers, and celebrities they torture - sorry, work with - every year in the jungle. Told through the lens of every TV show they've made, as well as everything they've learnt along the way, this is the riotously funny journey of two ordinary lads from Newcastle who went on to achieve extraordinary things.
Once Upon A Tyne: Our story celebrating 30 years together on telly
by Declan Donnelly Anthony McPartlinTHE HILARIOUS AND HEARTWARMING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Ant and Dec hold a special place in the hearts of TV viewers everywhere. This is their epic story, with never-before-seen photography and the very best tales from their 30 years in TV. Ant: As the old Chinese proverb says, 'Good things come in pairs'.Dec: And as another Chinese proverb says, 'If you've been in a double act with your best mate for thirty years, why not write a book about all your most memorable moments in three decades of showbusiness?'Ant: Less catchy that one, isn't it?Dec: But no less true. And after three decades together, we're writing that book. Covering everything from a pirate radio storyline in Byker Grove through to the biggest shows on telly, this is our story.Ant: Thirty years, eh? Amazing.Dec: Absolutely. Especially when you consider we are both still 27 years old.From their modest beginnings in Byker Grove through to their "unique" time as pop stars and an award-laden TV career, the last three decades have flown by in the blink of an eye. They've also featured an incredible cast of supporting characters, including their first scriptwriter (an unknown comedian called David Walliams), Saturday night fun and games with countless Hollywood A-listers, and celebrities they torture - sorry, work with - every year in the jungle. Told through the lens of every TV show they've made, as well as everything they've learnt along the way, this is the riotously funny journey of two ordinary lads from Newcastle who went on to achieve extraordinary things.
Once Upon A Wish: True Inspirational Stories of Make-A-Wish Children
by Rachelle Sparks Frank ShankwitzIn the last 30 years, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® has granted nearly 300,000 wishes worldwide to children battling life-threatening illnesses, shedding light on worlds darkened by disease and bringing hope to children and their families. With a foreword by Make-A-Wish® cofounder Frank Shankwitz, Once Upon A Wish shares the wishes of eight children–their stories inspiring testimonials to the resilience and strength of the human spirit. These families generously invite us into their worlds, allowing us to become part of their darkest moments, their unimaginable realities, their greatest hopes, deepest fears, and unbelievable triumphs. Experience the story of Katelyn, a little girl becoming a medical marvel after defying all odds stacked against her and making it her life-long goal to raise $3 million for St. Jude Hospital; read about a wheelchair-bound boy, Garrett, giving the gift of mobility to disabled Cambodian men and women; and root for the family of a little boy, Dakota, who collects millions of pennies each year to help others fight the disease they once fought. Become inspired and forever-changed by the generosity, hope, courage, and optimism of these children and their families and experience the power of two words, &“I wish." Once Upon A Wish is a celebration of hope, revealing how wishes-come-true can become ultimate motivators and cherished gifts that will last a lifetime.
Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life
by Anthony David Sari NusseibehA New York Times Book ReviewEditors' ChoiceA teacher, a scholar, a philosopher, and an eyewitness to history, Sari Nusseibeh is one of our most urgent and articulate authorities on the conflict in the Middle East. From his time teaching side by side with Israelis at the Hebrew University through his appointment by Yasir Arafat to administer the Arab Jerusalem, he has held fast to the principles of freedom and equality for all, and his story dramatizes the consequences of war, partition, and terrorism as few other books have done. This autobiography brings rare depth and compassion to the story of his country.
Once Upon a Farm: Lessons on Growing Love, Life, and Hope on a New Frontier
by Rory FeekNational BestsellerSometimes it&’s not only what we plant but where we&’re planted.Now raising their four-year-old daughter, Indiana, alone, after Joey&’s passing, Rory Feek digs deeper into the soil of his life and the unusual choices he and his wife, Joey, made together and the ones he&’s making now to lead his family into the future. When Rory Feek and his older daughters moved into a run-down farmhouse almost twenty years ago, he had no idea of the almost fairy-tale love story that was going to unfold on that small piece of Tennessee land . . . and the lessons he and his family would learn along the way.Now two years after Joey&’s passing, as Rory takes their four-year-old daughter Indiana&’s hand and walks forward into an unknown future, he takes readers on his incredible journey from heartbreak to hope and, ultimately, the kind of healing that comes only through faith.A raw and vulnerable look deeper into Rory&’s heart, Once Upon a Farm is filled with powerful stories of love, life, and hope and the insights that one extraordinary, ordinary man in bib overalls has gleamed along the way.As opposed to homesteading, this is instead a book on lifesteading as Rory learns to cultivate faith, love, and fatherhood on a small farm while doing everything, at times, but farming. With frequent stories of his and Joey&’s years together, and how those guide his life today, Rory unpacks just what it means to be open to new experiences.&“This isn&’t a how-to book; it&’s more of a how we, or more accurately, how He, God, planted us on a few acres of land and grew something bigger than Joey or I could have ever imagined.&”
Once Upon a Flock
by Lauren ScheuerWhen longtime illustrator and lover of power tools Lauren Scheuer was looking for a project, she got the idea to raise backyard chickens. Her husband and teenage daughter looked on incredulously as coop sketches and chicken-raising books filled their New England home. But when the chicks arrived, the whole family fell in love with the bundles of fluff and the wild adventures began. Once Upon a Flock: Life with My Soulful Chickens stars Scheuer's backyard chickens--with their big personalities, friendships, rivalries, and secrets--and the flock's guardian, Marky the terrier. The flock includes Hatsy, the little dynamo; Lil'White, the deranged and twisted Buff Orpington; Pigeon, the fixer-upper chicken; and Lucy, the special-needs hen who bonds with Lauren and becomes a fast friend. This charming story of Lauren's life with her quirky flock is filled with moments of humor and heartbreak: When Lucy is afflicted with a neurological disease, Lauren builds Lucy a special-needs coop. When Lucy's nesting instinct leads Lauren to act as a chicken midwife of sorts, Lauren hatches a chick in her home. And when Lucy's best friend Hatsy falls ill, Lauren finds an unlikely friend for Lucy in a chicken named Pigeon, who requires an emergency bath and blow-dry. Enthusiastically immersing herself in the world of her flock, Lauren discovers that love, loss, passion, and resilience are not only parts of the human experience, but of the chicken experience as well. Throughout it all, Lauren documents the laughter and drama of her flock's adventures with her own whimsical photos and illustrations. At once humorous, poignant, and informative, Once Upon a Flock is a feathered tale like no other.
Once Upon a Gypsy Moon: An Improbable Voyage and One Man's Yearning for Redemption
by Michael HurleyMichael Hurley watched his world unravel in the wake of infidelity, divorce and failure. In August 2009, he was short of money, out of a job, and seeking to salvage a life that had foundered. Deeply in need of perspective, he took to the open seas in a 32-foot sailboat, Gypsy Moon. The story of his 2-year outward odyssey, deterred by rough weather and mechanical troubles, combines keen observation, poignant thoughts, and deeper introspection with glorious prose. Once Upon a Gypsy Moon also presents a rare and much-needed point of view on the familiar spiritual-journey narrative. It offers a star-crossed love story wrapped inside a rollicking good sea tale, but it also has something important to say to the reader about relationships, faith and disbelief, life and death, love and marriage, and what really matters.
Once Upon a Life: A Memoir
by Temsula AoBorn in 1945 in the Assamese town of Jorhat, Temsula Ao, her father's favourite of his six daughters, remembers her childhood as a time of happiness. The sudden loss of both parents mean that the orphaned children were left to fend for themselves as best they could. Desperately poor, emotionally scarred, lonely and often hungry, the young Temsula made up for her lack of resources with courage and determination. From these unpromising beginnings, Ao went on to become one of Northeast India's best known writers and to build a distinguished teaching career, serving as Director of the Northeast Zone Cultural Centre, and finally, Dean of the School of Humanities and Education, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Temsula Ao describes her memoir as 'an attempt to exorcise my own personal ghosts from a fractured childhood that was ripped apart by a series of tragedies... [it] is about love and what it is like to be deprived of it.' For her readers, Ao's memoir gives not only an insight into her role as a leading figure in the Northeast, but is also a moving account of a writerly life.
Once Upon a Monsoon Time
by Ruskin BondAuthor Ruskin Bond recalls his childhood days growing up in the palace and fondly remembers his days visiting his grandmother's house, in this biographical sketch.
Once Upon a Raven's Nest: a life on Exmoor in an epoch of change
by Catrina Davies'This is a rich, beautiful and deeply moving book' GEORGE MONBIOT'I loved this book' CLOVER STROUDOnce Upon a Raven's Nest is the story of a working class man, one Thomas Hedley of Exmoor, and of the planet during the period of its great acceleration towards the current climate emergency.Born in 1955 to a poor family in Devon Thomas refused to conform. His fierce independence, recklessness and contrariness led not only to scrapes and self-inflicted dangers but to a life enriched by the love of women. Catrina Davies came to know him in his last years and has given his life and times in his own words, creating a rich, pungent language in a knowing, poetic and poignant voice.We learn of his accumulation of engines, tools and guns, the complexity of his connection to nature, the animals he loved and his desire to hunt them. He recounts the terrible consequences of his fatal attraction to risk and machinery which led to his being paralysed for the last years of his life, confined to a wheelchair, hopelessly dependent but still watching, noticing, recording, loving the world.The narrative is interwoven with a sequence of factual entries that chart the impending climate catastrophe and the consequences of our collective choices to ignore the warning of an environment on the verge of collapse.Once Upon A Raven's Nest is an unforgettable history of a life that is almost lost and an account of the destruction man has wrought on the earth in the time that Hedley worked the land.'Stunning. Urgent. Unforgettable' TANYA SHADRICK'This has the unmistakable smell of a classic' CHARLES FOSTER