Gossip from the forest : the tangled roots of our forests and fairytales / Sara Maitland ; photographs by Adam Lee.
Material type: TextPublication details: London: Granta, 2012.Description: 354 p. : ill. ; 25 cmISBN:- 184708429X (hbk.)
- 9781847084293 (hbk.)
- GR550 .M25 2012
Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lending Books | Elisabeth C. Miller Library Tall Shelves | SB456 .M25 2012 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 39352800141566 |
Browsing Elisabeth C. Miller Library shelves, Shelving location: Tall Shelves Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)
No cover image available | ||||||||
SB456 .L44 1960 Folklore and symbolism of flowers, plants and trees, | SB456 .L69 2001 Flowers, the angels' alphabet : the language and poetry of flowers with an American floral dictionary and twenty-eight literary calligraphy illustrations / | SB456 .M23 1982 A cottage flora / | SB456 .M25 2012 Gossip from the forest : the tangled roots of our forests and fairytales / | SB456 .M27 1984 Wildflower folklore / | SB456 .M27 1987 Garden flower folklore / | SB456 .M27 1992 The folklore of trees and shrubs / |
Includes bibliographical references.
Fairytales are one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, and forests one of our most ancient and primal landscapes. Both evoke a similar sensation in us - we find them beautiful and magical, but also spooky, sometimes horrifying. In this fascinating book, Maitland argues that the two forms are intimately connected: the mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of the forests were both the background and the source of fairytales. Yet both forests and fairy stories are at risk and their loss deprives us of our cultural lifeblood. Maitland visits forests through the seasons, from the exquisite green of a beechwood in spring, to the muffled stillness of a snowy pine wood in winter. She camps with her son Adam, whose beautiful photographs are included in the book; she takes a barefoot walk through Epping Forest with Robert Macfarlane; she walks with a mushroom expert through an oak wood, and with a miner through the Forest of Dean. Maitland ends each chapter with a unique, imaginitive re-telling of a fairystory. Written with Sara's wonderful clarity and conversational grace, Gossip from the Forest is a magical and unique blend of nature writing, history and imaginative fiction.