Through the story of one man, Caleb Bawcombe, a shepherd whose flocks graze the Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset borders, we meet men and women of humble birth, poachers, gypsies, farmers and labourers striving to survive on the land. As we read, the cumulative affect of their stories becomes much more than a record of rural life.
William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) grew up on the farms and ranches of the Rio de la Plata and was given a somewhat haphazard education by a succession of tutors. Despite an active childhood Hudson's hopes of a career in farming were destroyed by a series of childhood illnesses which left him physically weak. He spent his early adult years in South America studying the environment and wildlife, but in 1869 left for England. In 1876 he married Emily Wingrave, who ran a boarding house while Hudson wrote. However, it was not until 1892 with the publication of The Naturalist in La Plata that Hudson was to achieve recognition as an author. A civil list pension awarded in 1901 allowed him to continue his writing, which now focused on British nature and rural life, but also included fictional works, such as Green Mansions, one of his best known works. His collected works, published in 1923, filled 25 volumes.