Synopsis "Tarka the Otter"
A classic of nature writing, Tarka the Otter was beloved by Rachel Carson, Ted Hughes, and Thomas Hardy, and is a survival story influenced by the author's time fighting in World War I.In the wild there is no safety. The otter cub Tarka grows up with his mother and sisters, learning to swim, to catch fish--and to fear the cry of the hunter and the flash of the metal trap. Soon he must fend for himself, travelling through rivers, woods, moors, ponds, and out to sea, sometimes with the female otters White-tip and Greymuzzle, and always on the run. Eventually, chased by a pack of hounds, he meets his nemesis, the fearsome Deadlock, and must fight for his life.Tarka the Otter depicts a fierce struggle for survival in the wild that also carries echoes of the author's experience in the First World War. The result of years spent observing otters in the wild, this book is a celebration of life, the eternal rhythms of nature, and the English countryside.
