The Secret Life of the Owl

Of all our native birds, the owl holds a special power over our imagination. For some a talisman of good fortune, others a harbinger of doom, the image of the owl is an omen that appears across our folklore; a sign of witchcraft, medicine, the weather, birth and death. In his latest book, The Secret Life of the Owl, John Lewis-Stempel goes in search of this enchanting and elusive guardian of the night.

John Lewis-Stempel has twice won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, initially in 2015 with the stunning Meadowland, and in 2017 with Where Poppies Blow, his investigation into nature and its relationship to the trauma of the First World War. His other books include the Radio 4 Book of the Week and Sunday Times top five bestseller, The Running Hare.

'John Lewis-Stempel is one of the best nature writers of his generation' - Country Life