Spell Songs is a musical companion piece to The Lost Words: A Spell Book by author Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris. This mixed media CD is accompanied by sumptuous illustrations from Jackie Morris, new 'spells' by Robert Macfarlane, enlightening thoughts by Robert, Jackie and Spell Singer Karine Polwart and stunning photography by Elly Lucas. In 2018 Folk by the Oak Festival commissioned Spell Songs because of their love of The Lost Words book. Spell Songs comprises eight remarkable musicians whose music engages deeply with landscape and nature; musicians who are perfectly placed to respond to the creatures, art and language of The Lost Words. They spent a week in Herefordshire bringing this music together in the company of Jackie Morris. Art inspired music and music inspired art. Jackie Morris immersed herself in the musical residency where she generously created new iconesque artwork of each musician and their instruments portrayed in an unexpected and enchanting way. These stunning new artworks accompany the CD. Spell Songs allowed these acclaimed and diverse musicians to weave together elements of British folk music, Senegalese folk traditions, and experimental and classical music to create an inspiring new body of work. Here are 14 songs which capture the essence of The Lost Words book. Spoken voice, whispers, accents, dialects, native languages, proverbs, sayings, birdsong, river chatter and insect hum all increase the intimacy of the musical world conjured by the songs. Inspired by the words, art and ethos of The Lost Words book, each musician brings new imaginings, embellishments and diversions which are rooted in personal experience, a deep respect for the natural world, protest at the loss of nature and its language and an appreciation for wildness and beauty. In February 2019 Spell Songs enjoyed standing ovations at sell-out performances in major venues across the UK culminating at The Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, London. Spell Songs was a highlight of The Hay International Literary Festival 2019 and in August 2019 they were invited to perform at the BBC's Lost Words Prom in the Royal Albert Hall. They will continue to tour each year. "There are songs here that would live with me for the rest of my years, even if I'd had no part in their making". Robert Macfarlane

The beautifully observed human dynamics of Sarah Moss meets the emo-apocalypse of The Last of Us, a gripping, moving novel about siblings, sex and the end of the world.

Luke, Connor, Thea and Violet spend their first holiday together alone in their father's house in France. The boys don't really know him - he left their mother when she was still pregnant with Connor, getting together with the girls' mother soon afterwards - and they don't really know their half-sisters, either. Luke, the eldest and most easy going of the four, is keen to bring a new shape to their overlapping, unconventional family; Connor and Thea, born just six months apart but a world of difference between them, are attracted to each other, something they try not to acknowledge but which keeps pushing its way to the surface; Violet, the youngest, is trying to figure some things out about herself, and trying desperately to forget others.

Sex, in its multiple pleasurable divergences and forms, disturbances and abuses, is on the minds of all of the siblings during the hot, lethargic summer days next to the pool. Meanwhile the land is responding and reacting to something inexplicable and eerie. There is a sound, a strong buzzing tonal undercurrent that only Connor can hear, and when Violet one night sees a plane light abruptly drop and disappear in the night sky, it signals the unsettling beginning of something that threatens so much more than their turbulent holiday...

This book relocates the long life and literary career of the poet, playwright, novelist, philanthropist and teacher Hannah More (1745-1833) in the wider social and cultural contexts that shaped her, and which she helped shape in turn. One of the most influential writers and campaigners of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, More’s reputation has suffered unfairly from accusations of paternalism and provincialism, and misunderstandings of her sincerely-held but now increasingly unfamiliar evangelical beliefs. Now, in this book, readers can explore a range of essays rooted in up-to-the-minute research which examines newly-recovered archival materials and other evidence in order to present the fullest picture yet of this complex and compelling author, and the era she helped mould with her words.

for SSAA unaccompanied Setting the modernized words of an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm, this thrilling piece is unusual, dramatic, and beguiling. Featuring a whispered list of potion ingredients for the intro and outro, it also includes whistling, modal touches, and some very funky riffs-to be performed with freedom, energy, and imagination!

Now in B-format paperback, this book describes ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces their footsteps, from eighteenth-century parson's daughter Elizabeth Carter - who desired nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond in the wilds of southern England - to modern walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed. For each, walking was integral, whether it was rambling for miles across the Highlands, like Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, or pacing novels into being, as Virginia Woolf did around Bloomsbury. Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing - of being - articulated by these ten pathfinding women.

This study offers a timely and necessary reassessment of the careers of Ann Yearsley and Hannah More. Making use of newly-discovered letters and poems, Andrews provides a full analysis of the breakdown of the two writers' affiliation and compares it to other labouring-class relationships based on patronage.

This book relocates the long life and literary career of the poet, playwright, novelist, philanthropist and teacher Hannah More (1745-1833) in the wider social and cultural contexts that shaped her, and which she helped shape in turn. One of the most influential writers and campaigners of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, More's reputation has suffered unfairly from accusations of paternalism and provincialism, and misunderstandings of her sincerely-held but now increasingly unfamiliar evangelical beliefs. Now, in this book, readers can explore a range of essays rooted in up-to-the-minute research which examines newly-recovered archival materials and other evidence in order to present the fullest picture yet of this complex and compelling author, and the era she helped mould with her words.

This study offers a timely and necessary reassessment of the careers of Ann Yearsley and Hannah More. Making use of newly-discovered letters and poems, Andrews provides a full analysis of the breakdown of the two writers' affiliation and compares it to other labouring-class relationships based on patronage.

Presents the works of Ann Yearsley, a laboring-class poet' whose writing forms part of an under-represented area of romanticism. This work includes her play "Earl Goodwin" and novel "The Royal Captives".

Presents the works of Ann Yearsley, a laboring-class poet' whose writing forms part of an under-represented area of romanticism. This work includes her play "Earl Goodwin" and novel "The Royal Captives".

Ann Yearsley (1753-1806) was a labouring-class poet and early Romantic figure. She is perhaps best known for the dispute she had with her patron, Hannah More. This is a collection of Ann Yearsley's works. Outspoken on the subject of the slave trade, she is often quoted in the context of the early abolitionist movement. As a 'labouring-class poet' her writing also forms part of an under-represented area of Romanticism now growing in academic interest.

Presents the works of Ann Yearsley, a laboring-class poet' whose writing forms part of an under-represented area of romanticism. This work includes her play "Earl Goodwin" and novel "The Royal Captives".

The follow-up to the bestselling Wanderers, Kerri Andrews' Way Makers is the first anthology of women's writing about walking. Moving from the eighteenth century to the present day, and across poetry, letters, diaries, novels and more, this anthology traces a long tradition of women's walking literature. Walking is, for the women included in this anthology, a source of creativity and comfort; it is a means of expressing grief, longing and desire. It is also a complicated activity: it represents freedom but is also sometimes tinged with danger and fear. What cannot be denied any longer is that walking was, and continues to be, an activity full of physical and emotional significance for women: this anthology is testament to the rich literary heritage created by generations of women walker-writers over the centuries.

The first ever edition of Nan Shepherd's correspondence, featuring two hundred and fifty letters The first ever edition of Nan Shepherd's correspondence Includes all available letters to and from Shepherd sent over a career of 60 years Helpful annotations help the reader navigate the details of Shepherd's world Recognised now as one of the most important voices to emerge from Scotland's literary 'Renaissance' in the 1930s, the full extent of Nan Shepherd's considerable cultural significance is revealed only in the letters she sent and received over the course of her long life and extraordinary career. Including letters from Neil Gunn, Hugh MacDiarmid, Jessie Kesson, Helen B. Cruickshank, Agnes Mure Mackenzie and many more, this edition documents Shepherd's emergence as a celebrated novelist in the 1920s and 30s, her quieter years editing the Aberdeen University Review, and the composition of what would, eventually, be her most famous work, The Living Mountain. With an introduction, annotations and biographical sketches, Nan Shepherd's Correspondence brings you into Nan Shepherd's world as one of the most influential literary figures of her generation.

for SATB (with soprano semi-chorus), piano, & optional percussion (bass drum, tam-tam/gong, & 3 tom-toms) This is a colourful and dramatic celebration of nature and its powerful and hypnotizing sounds. The listener is taken on a captivating journey through the natural world, via 'tongues of thunders', the 'singing sea', and 'trumpet-throated winds'. Clustered harmonies, cross-rhythms, and vocal effects are combined with bell-like passages and rippling figurations in the piano, and the optional percussion part adds further rhythmic and dynamic interest. The semi-chorus part can be sung by one or more sopranos or a children's choir.

for unaccompanied SSATB choir (with optional soprano solo) Combining a number of early lullaby texts in one setting, Adam and the Mother is a haunting carol recalling the fall of Adam. It combines irregular melodic lines with lilting ostinato passages and will appeal to experienced choirs looking for a unique addition to the Christmas repertory.

for SATB unaccompanied This luminescent setting of 'O lux beata Trinitas' (ascribed to St Ambrose) uses a variety of textures and vocal techniques to reflect the joy expressed in the text - from simple homophony to improvisatory techniques and free metre. The piece culminates with a short declamatory tenor solo, echoed by a solo soprano, before a peaceful extended 'Amen'.

for SATB unaccompanied The composer has combined a single line of Latin, 'O virgo splendens', with an earthy, late 13th-century Marian text in Middle English to create a work which reflects both the divine and the human qualities of the Virgin Mary. Beginning and ending with plainchant-style passages, Hevene Quene is by turns restrained, sparkling, pensive, and pleading. Suitable for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary and for concert use, this is an approachable and rewarding anthem.

'I didn't want this book to end... Beautiful' DAISY JOHNSON 'A natural storyteller' PATRICK GALE 'A gorgeous folkloric novel of water and love' ZOE GILBERT London, 1985. Joe, father to eleven-year-old Matty, has disappeared, and nobody will explain where he's gone, or why. In the long, hot summer that follows, Matty's hunt for Joe leads to the ponds at Hampstead Heath. Beneath the water, there is a new kind of freedom. Above the water, a welcoming community of men offer refuge from an increasingly rocky home life. Fourteen years later, a new revelation sees Matty set off alone in a campervan, driving westwards through Ireland, swimming its wild loughs and following the scant clues left behind about Joe. The trip takes a dangerous turn, and Matty is forced to rely on the kindness of strangers. But safety comes at a price, and with desire and fear running high, the journey turns into an explosive, heart-rending reckoning with the past. *A 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK IN i NEWSPAPER* 'Artfully paced, with queer undercurrents, this novel is tender and totally enveloping' Attitude