Is a River Alive?: The Instant Number One Sunday Times Bestseller

Macfarlane, Robert Robert Macfarlane,

ISBN 10: 0241998212 / ISBN 13: 9780241998212

Published by Penguin, 2026

About this Item

Is a River Alive?: The Instant Number One Sunday Times Bestseller This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. .

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Is a River Alive?: The Instant Number One Sunday Times Bestseller
• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241998212
• ISBN 13: 9780241998212
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

From the celebrated writer and observer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book – which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title

At its heart is a single, transformative that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Inspired by the activists, artists and lawmakers of the young ‘Rights of Nature’ movement, Macfarlane takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

Is a River Alive? flows like water from the mountains to the sea, over three major
The first is to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened with destruction by gold-mining.

The second is to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.

The third is to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.

Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream who rises a mile from Macfarlane’s house, and flows through his own years and days.

Passionate, immersive and revelatory, Is a River Alive? is at once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date. It is a book that will open hearts, spark debates and challenge perspectives. Lit throughout by other minds and voices, it invites us radically to reimagine not only rivers but also life itself. At the centre of this vital, beautiful book is the recognition that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.