The Snow Geese

William Fiennes

Editions

Review

After months in hospital with a debilitating illness, William Fiennes longed for the known comforts of home and parental love.  During the long process of convalescence he became fascinated by birds, his father’s passion; and in particular, prompted by rereading Paul Gallico’s The Snow Goose pbk £5.99, he became intrigued by snow geese.  He planned a trip from Texas to Baffin Island following their annual migration, and this book is the record of  that journey.

But like all the best travel books, The Snow Geese is about much more than its ostensible subject.  Fiennes is wonderful when writing about the birds and his trip, but it is the wider context – his reflections on home and migration – that give this book depth.  Along the way he encounters numerous people, whose attitudes towards home and environment are minutely observed and beautifully described: Fiennes’s prose is precise and fluent.  In assurance and ambition this debut invites comparison with Chatwin’s In Patagonia pbk £7.99; it will surely become a classic. - review by Johnny de Falbe

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