Magnificent ... a far-reaching, compendious and elegantly turned examination of a region and its peoples, this book is unlikely to be surpassed

A magisterial account of the complex human history of the greatest mountains on Earth ... fascinating ... scrupulously and movingly detail[ed] ... Douglas weaves a far richer tapestry, showing how this is a sacred landscape influenced by very worldly concerns

A panoramic history of the region ... Such a complex range of subjects is not easy to press into a coherent narrative ... Douglas ... does so with extraordinary aplomb ... rigorous and informative ... highly readable ... never lacking freshness and rich in compelling detail

A scholarly yet entertaining synthesis of hundreds of years of history ... [Douglas] portrays not only nuns and monks but also courtesans, mountaineers, kings, horse-traders, tea merchants, spies, architects, botanists, soldiers and politicians from Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Sikkim, China and India - as well as from Britain, the British Raj, American, Russia and continental Europe ... a labour of love twenty-five years in the making

In the suitably immense Himalaya, Ed Douglas logs the achievements and travails from Paleolithic times to the present day of the peoples who have laboured in and around Asia's mountain spine ... enlivening Himalaya's history with a host of minor characters ... Such unsung endeavours are a delight ... The research is impressive ... always authoritative ... Anyone with a serious interest in the Himalayan region will want to buy it and will find it invaluable

His observations are sharp, and in many passages, his writing glows

A fascinating account that portrays the [Himalaya] range as a crossroads rather than a human desert

[Macdonald's] prose is poetic but it also has a drenching clarity... These are urgent pieces designed to open our eyes to the parlous state of the environment... A vital book for now because it... shows us that in respecting this diversity lies both the joy and unity of our own species.

Full of treasures... Couched in scientific learning... The pleasures of Vesper Flights are the pleasures of any literature; the lucidity of thought, the sensual tactility of the words (Macdonald can make you feel the bristle of the beetles that catch in her hair on a summer night), the comfort of the familiar and the thrill of the strange. But it is combined here with a real urgency, an awareness of our human imprint on the world and the damage that is doing.

A powerful collection of essays... Sensitive and intelligent, these essays are full of gorgeous images and moving insights... A perfect escape.

One of this century's greatest nature writers.

Vivid, deeply informed, emotionally charged... [Vesper Flights] can startle you.

Helen Macdonald's series of studies...show a remarkable eloquence, intelligence and empathy... Unfailingly acute.

From reflections on her childhood love of animals to sharp observations on the migrations of songbirds, the author of H is for Hawk fills her essay collection with vivid appreciation for the wildlife that surrounds us.

Helen Macdonald's new essays are no flights of fancy, as she examines who has the right to define and be the gatekeepers to the natural world... [Vesper Flights shares] many of the qualities of H is for Hawk - frankness, reflective thinking, formidable powers of observation and wordcraft.

Macdonald is a glorious writer... This book will make you look a bit harder at the wonders around you.

Interesting and accomplished... Vesper Flights establishes her [Macdonald] as a penetrating analyst of the relationship between humans and the non-human world... She is splendid company reflecting on nests and the meaning of home and place.

I finished the book seeing the natural world, and my place within it, afresh.

One of this century's greatest nature writers, Helen Macdonald takes simple moments - of nesting birds, wild boars emerging from the woods, foraging for mushrooms on an autumn day - and weaves them with history, personal reflection and political comment.

H is for Hawk turned many a reader into a goshawk fan... This lyrical essay collection also explores human relationships with the natural world, but has a wider scope, taking in a search for the last golden orioles in Suffolk's poplar forests and swan-upping on the Thames.

Vesper Flights...reminds us we too are part of the natural world.

Vesper Flights...[takes] the reader on exhilarating adventures.

This nature writer's long-awaited follow-up to her influential 2014 memoir H is for Hawk is a treat: dive into essays about headaches and high-rises, catching swans and farming ostriches.

Their subject matter is marvellously diverse, taking in nests, ants, hares, glow-worms, mushrooms, migration and more... These are urgent pieces designed to open our eyes to the state of the environment.

Vesper Flights is a book of tremendous purpose.

Gorgeously evocative prose, original insights and deep knowledge.

[Macdonald's] beautifully written essays go a long way to improving our perception.

A collection of wonderfully evocative essays on wildlife.

[An] urgently beautiful book about the haunted meanings of belonging in the world.

Stunning.

Vesper Flights weaves a beautiful proposition: by noticing how wonder arises and flows, we can learn something about what it means to be alive.

These individual essays are about badgers and ants, goldfinches and swans, but through their constellation Macdonald is able to get at something fundamental about the human condition.

I should have started reading Helen Macdonald a long time ago and now I'm unlikely to stop. These essays and reflections are just as compelling as her celebrated H is for Hawk, and come together as a kind of manual for being in the world as you look at it.

Lovely, thoughtful and sometimes sobering essays on the vanishing natural world.

This book is a powerful - and entertaining - corrective to the idea that the only hopes that matter on this planet are those of our own species.

Macdonald has a wonderful gift for exploring the intersection between nature and our experience of it, in writing that is both lyrical and impassioned.

One of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read. This story will say with you long after you put the book down

I just turned the last page (reluctantly!). A bold, often brutal exploration of memory, grief and love. Full of hope and heart. I can't recommend it enough

A brave, brilliant book that is both beautiful and important. Read it then buy it for all your friends

Gavanndra's memoir The Consequences of Love is absolutely beautiful. It's compelling, heartbreaking, sweet, honest, fascination. I recommend it HIGHLY. I absolutely LOVED it.

This stunning exploration of grief is so well written and profoundly moving

An elegant study of grief and memory

Hodge pours heartbreak and love into the pages of a book that never pretends to know the answers, and is all the better for it

An eye-opening snapshot of the fashion world in '90s London