Late Light: 'An astonishing read' - AMY LIPTROT, AUTHOR OF THE OUTRUN

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For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. It's also peppered with lots of very interesting natural and social history that is weaved throughout the memoir, and takes subjects that can seem quite remote and academic (migration patterns, ecology) and not only makes them feel very interesting and immediate but also shows (in a very unsermonising way) how alienated we've become from the natural world. There are fascinating points about land that is reclaimed by nature that fits in with the rewilding books I’ve been reading, but going deeper into smaller areas again. Michael captures how it feels to find pockets of magic and meaning on our doorsteps, and how to sustain our hope for the future. With presences, and with danger: for the enfeebled environment that dooms so many species will inevitably doom us too; there is, in the end, no escape.

It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. He also draws parallels with types of people and different places, for example the long migration patterns of eels bringing to mind the journeys of migrants and refugees and the blocks to their journeys, just as eels are now blocked by modern land use patterns, both experiencing “perilous journeys”. That was a really good aspect to it, and gave fascinating info about those creatures – I wasn’t so bad with moths as we have an interest in those, but knew little about eels and mussels!

By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Malay’s prose is gorgeous and astute; he looks with fresh eyes at unpopular species and finds poetry and meaning. Told through the stories of four ‘uncharismatic’ creatures – eels, moths, freshwater pearl mussels, crickets – and Michael’s forays into their dwindling worlds, his is an inventive and curious account of modern extinction. That’s a fascinating set of parallels he seems to draw, and I do love the idea of focusing on creatures often neglected (Blyton in Adventures of Pip chose to highlight smaller animals and insects which I loved too).

Recounting how his moves across countries often left him feeling like a migratory bird himself, his utter joy and passion for the natural world is stunningly rendered in this book. I adored this beautiful and thoughtful story of Michael Malay's life in the UK, and how he can chart his relationship with the world through its nature. Amy Liptrot, The Outrun This is a book about falling in love with vanishing things Late Light is the story of Michael Malay's own journey, an Indonesian Australian making a home for himself in England and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines. In underscoring the concept of basic dignity as being the right of all species, and illuminating the idea of an expansive, planetary politics, Malay offers a bright, fierce hope for the future.Although I had a few books published in July on my NetGalley TBR already, I couldn’t resist requesting this one, as it was described thus: “Late Light is the story of Michael Malay’s own journey, an Indonesian-Australian-American making a home for himself in England and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines”. They were like pebbles found on a beach, shapely and good to hold, and some opened strange vistas onto the past.