Illustrated Shepherds Life

A Shepherds Life deals with a time and place which seems quite obscure, the Salisbury Plain of the 19th century. W. H, Hudson assembled this history from the tales and remembrances of some of the aged residents, particularly an old man who had been a shepherd his entire life. There are many descriptions of the relationship between shepherds and their dogs,peculiar behaviors of various animals,tales of strange people, and extensive descriptions of the land itself. There are stories of the humble lives of the sheepherders and their many hardships. There is condemnation of the hoggish practices of the large landowners who lived in luxury and hoarded all the land and the rights thereof, yet denied the common people even a decent living. Shining through all this is the pride these simple workmen felt in their craft and expertise. The book had a slow start and seemed rather mundane at first, but gradually built up a mood which drew me in to this world. It is a very quaint change of pace to our modern existence. The quality of writing was excellent. I read this book because I enjoyed the author's natural history classic,The Naturalist in La Plata. I felt rewarded that I did.

I love the pieces that are included in this edition; however, they are merely smatterings taken from A Shepherd's Life. I had hoped the book I ordered was unabridged. That aside, W.H. Hudson was a masterfull writer and his prose, in most instances, magnificent and highly descriptive.