Chiltern Bookshops

Is a River Alive? – Robert Macfarlane

£25.00

*SIGNED, INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP EXCLUSIVE EDITION* 

From celebrated writer 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 idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

The book flows first to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.

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

And finally, 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.

*This title will be published on Thursday 1st May 2025. Includes exclusive end papers by Daniel Coe and a broadsheet poem, ‘Riversong’, written by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Nick Hayes.

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