by Max Hastings
First published 2010
Max Hastings steps away from his desk and into the wild spaces he loves most. The veteran journalist and military historian exchanges urban deadlines for rural rhythms as he pursues fishing and shooting across Britain and beyond. Hastings wades through snipe bogs in Waterford and tracks game along Hampshire hedgerows. He casts flies in Scottish streams and Icelandic waters, then travels to Alaska's remote rivers. His adventures take him shooting across the moors of Sutherland, through the landscapes of western Ireland, and into the hunting grounds of India. Each expedition becomes a meditation on the pull of outdoor life and the satisfaction found in traditional country sports. Hastings brings a reporter's eye for detail to these personal moments of escape. His stories capture both the technical challenges of field sports and the deeper contentment they provide. This collection reveals how time spent in nature offers respite from professional pressures and reconnects him with simpler pleasures.
Genres: nature, adventure, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, professional-pressures
Setting: Alaska, Britain, Hampshire, Iceland, India, Ireland, Scotland, Sutherland, Waterford
Period: 21st-Century
216 pages · Paperback · Pan Macmillan