Description

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A lyrical exploration of mental health and nature, set to the phases of the moon

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon. While modern, digital life is often at odds with nature – rubbing against it rather than working in harmony with it – is there something to be said for embracing this ancient way of being and reconnecting to the moon’s natural calendar?

January’s Quiet Moon reflects an air of melancholy, illuminating a midwinter of quiet menace; it was the time of the Dark Days for the ancient Celts, when the natural world balanced on a knife edge. By May, the Bright Moon brings happiness as time slows, mayflies cloud and elderflowers cascade. Nature approaches her peak during a summer of short nights and bright days – this was when the ancient Celts claimed their wives and celebrated Lugnasad. With the descent into winter comes the sadness of December’s Cold Moon. Trees stand bare and creatures shiver their way to shelter as the Dark Days creep in once more and the cycle restarts.

In The Quiet Moon, Kevin Parr discovers that a year of moons has much to teach us about how to live in the world that surrounds us – and how being more in tune to the rhythms of nature, even in the cold and dark, can help ease the suffering mind.

About the Author

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Kevin Parr is a writer, fisherman and naturalist. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Rivers Run (2016), which was longlisted for the inaugural Richard Jefferies Prize for Nature Writing. He is a monthly columnist for BBC Countryfile Magazine and the angling correspondent for TheIdler magazine and has written for the Daily Telegraph and Independent. Kevin lives in West Dorset with his wife and a colony of grass snakes a few strides from his garden gate.

Praise For…

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"Like its subject,The Quiet Moonis glistening, rich and strange. ... soulfully bewitching at every quarter, good company through every wax and wane.’ Tim Dee, author, A Year on the Wing and Landfill

"Kev Parr stands among the finest natural history writers of our generation ... a masterful storyteller and a man wholly unafraid to bare his soul on the page.' —Will Millard, BBC presenter

"A fascinating journey through myth, moonlight and ancient history." —Chris Yates, author, Nightwalk

"Lunar curiosity guides this graceful sharing, not only of Parr’s deep knowing of the natural world, but also his vulnerability as he wrestles with mental health. A beautifully personal book that’s bound by a sweet melancholy." —Verity Sharp, broadcaster

"A powerfully honest and deeply reassuring exploration of an individual's place in the world, and the incalculable wealth found when we take the time to notice the natural world and its rhythms." —Fergus Collins, Editor of BBC Countryfile Magazine