Late Light

A love letter to the English countryside and some of the creatures which populate it, set against the backdrop of the author's own journey of discovery, as a new arrival to the UK

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WINNER OF THE 2024 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2023 RICHARD JEFFERIES AWARD FOR NATURE WRITING

'Inspirational' - THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
'A bright, fierce hope for the future' - THE IRISH TIMES
'An astonishing read' - AMY LIPTROT
'Irresistible' - SARA BAUME
'Will leave you aching with world-love' - ABI ANDREWS
'Simply mesmerising' - JESSICA J. LEE
'A tender, marvellous book' - NICK HUNT


This is a book about falling in love with vanishing things

Late Light is the story of Michael Malay's own journey, an Indonesian Australian making a home for himself in England and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines. Mixing natural history with memoir, this book explores the mystery of our animal neighbours, in all their richness and variety. It is about the wonder these animals inspired in our ancestors, the hope they inspire in us, and the joy they might still hold for our children.

Late Light is about migration, belonging and extinction. Through the close examination of four particular 'unloved' animals - eels, moths, crickets and mussels - Michael Malay tells the story of the economic, political and cultural events that have shaped the modern landscape of Britain.

For readers of Robert Macfarlane, Raynor Winn and Helen Macdonald, Late Light is a rich blend of memoir, natural history, nature writing, and a meditation on being and belonging, from a vibrant new voice.