The Running Hare
The Secret Life of Farmland
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The Running Hare
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Narrated by:
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Bernard Hill
About this listen
The Sunday Times best seller. Winner of the Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2015. BBC Radio 4's 'Book of the Week'.
Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield flowers have become extinct in the last 20 years. Once abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List. The corncrake is all but extinct in England. And the hare is running for its life.
Written in exquisite prose, The Running Hare tells the story of the wild animals and plants that live in and under our ploughland, from the labouring microbes to the patrolling kestrel above the corn, from the linnet pecking at seeds to the seven-spot ladybird that eats the aphids that eat the crop. It recalls an era before open-roofed factories and silent, empty fields, recording the ongoing destruction of the unique, fragile, glorious ploughland that exists just down the village lane.
But it is also the story of ploughland through the eyes of man who took on a field and husbanded it in a natural, traditional way, restoring its fertility and wildlife, bringing back the old farmland flowers and animals. John Lewis-Stempel demonstrates that it is still possible to create a place where the hare can rest safe.
©2016 John Lewis-Stempel (P)2017 Random House AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Running Hare
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LK
- 04-11-23
Captivating
A story of the farmland of our past with some hope for its future. Plus the magical hare!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Claire
- 23-01-22
Hopeful, more wildlife friendly farming please
A real tonic in January. Really shows how things can change quickly for wildlife but also sad to hear that farming in the UK in general is still focused on yields a any cost.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-12-17
The countryside alive again
This visionary book gives hope to all of us who love the natural world. It is special because it is not a town dwellers unrealistic vision. It is the vision of a farmer and a countryman through and through.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- alex milway
- 01-11-17
Love John's books. Bernard Hill is great too.
Beautifully written and full of things I didn't know. Bernard Hill reads it much better than the Meadowland narrator. Wish he could do the rest of them.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 31-01-24
country side references
I was delighted to hear about how, within a year, a field could bring so much in the way of wildlife back. Stories of farm life as I remember them and histories of so many things that my grandparents and parents lived.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- keren cornelius
- 20-03-18
Beautiful
Joyful but heart braking. It has made me smile, dream and enquire but also cry. So much has been lost yet the wonder of nature is still wondrous.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John Toynton
- 11-06-22
Back to my Childhood in the countryside
Packed full of memories of my wartime and post war childhood.
Much of the wild life he describes was seen regularly.
The harvest was memorable with sheaves and stooks of corn, and the cutting to the centre of the field , when rabbits and a fox would come out.
However it is a very long listen, just right for us over 75 s but I wonder how many younger people will complete the read. However, that may not be necessary to realise his theme and tales of the English countryside.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mrs M E Burstow
- 05-10-20
Melodic
Listening to this book is a little like listening to a work of poetry.
I particularly enjoyed the agricultural history.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 21-05-21
Stunningly poetical
Loved it, brings to the fore the need to look at what is being done to countryside and what could be
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- M. Orchard
- 28-10-20
Beautiful
If you buy only one book about nature - make it this one. JLS shows us that there is another way to tend the land, a gentler way, that is both more productive and kind to nature and our fellow creatures. Moving and beautiful.
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