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Ring of Bright Water (Nonpareil Books) Paperback – April 1, 2011

by Gavin Maxwell (Author), Austin Chinn (Editor)

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This volume weaves together the Scottish otter stories from Gavin Maxwell's three non-fiction books, Ring of Bright Water (1960), The Rocks Remain (1963), and Raven Meet Thy Brother (1969). Maxwell was both an extraordinarily evocative writer and a highly unusual man. While touring the Iraqi marshes, he was captivated by an otter and became a devoted advocate of and spokesman for the species. He moved to a remote house in the Scottish highlands, co-habiting there with three otters and living an idyllic and isolated life at least for a while. Fate, fame, and fire conspired against this paradise, and it, too, came to an end, though the journey was filled with incident and wonder. Maxwell was also talented as an artist, and his sinuous line drawings of these amphibious and engaging creatures, and the homes they occupied, illustrate his story. This book stands as a lasting tribute to a man, his work, and his passion. It was received and has endured as a classic for its portrait not only of otters but also of a man who endured heartaches and disappointments, whose life embodied both greatness and tragedy. He writes with rare eloquence about his birth, his devotion to the beloved Scottish highlands, and the wildlife he loved, while refusing to ignore the darker aspects of his nature and of nature in its larger sense. Maxwell's legacy has been preserved at the Eilean Ban Trust and Bright Water Visitor Centre.

Ring of Bright Water (Nonpareil Books)

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Product Details

Series: Nonpareil Books (Book 111)
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: David R Godine; Reprint edition (April 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 156792400X
ISBN-13: 978-1567924008
Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #503,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #53 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Rural Life
- #201 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Rural
- #279 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Animals > Marine Life

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THE edition to get if you want to read the classic account of otters

By R. M. Peterson TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on March 10, 2012

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

Gavin Maxwell (b. 1914, d. 1969) was a Scottish naturalist, adventurer, writer, and someone who proceeded through life to a much different beat than most of us. It helped that he was an aristocrat and came from money. From 1948 to 1968, he lived off and on at "Camusfeàrna", which is what he called his remote house on the coast of the West Highlands. He had many adventures there, most of which centered around his interactions with various animals -- including stags, wildcats, seals, porpoises, killer whales, and numerous wildfowl -- but the stars of his naturalist world were a handful of otters. He wrote three books about his otters and his life at Camusfeàrna - "Ring of Bright Water" (1959), "The Rocks Remain" (1963), and "Raven Seek Thy Brother" (1968). This trilogy brings all three together, although parts of the second and third books that deal with matters of Maxwell's life other than Camusfeàrna and his otters have been omitted.

RING OF BRIGHT WATER: A TRILOGY has two interrelated aspects to it. The first concerns a philosophical yearning for a wild and unsullied natural world, in which man lives by himself and "at one with nature", not unlike Thoreau's "Walden". Maxwell expresses this philosophy in his Foreword: "I am convinced that man has suffered in his separation from the soil and from the other living creatures of the world; the evolution of his intellect has outrun his needs as an animal, and as yet he must still, for security, look long at some portion of the earth as it was before he tampered with it.Read more ›

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An All-time Favorite Book!

By Julie A. Smith on November 27, 2013

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This is one of my favorite books, so this particular copy is a holiday gift for my niece, who is also an animal lover! I was VERY CLOSE to Gavin's home in Scotland this past June, so I have a very good idea of the terrain and coast. I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates the lives of animals AND Scotland!