They were like pebbles found on a beach, shapely and good to hold, and some opened strange vistas onto the past. His voice is fresh, passionate, and beautifully attuned to the layers of enchantment and melancholy that emerge from the living world in today's challenging times. I know when I first came to England, I was stunned by the deep green of the hills, the bluebells, the daffodils coming out so early… but have forgotten to marvel at all of this now, after living here so long. 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. Befriending naturalists and birders, he began to learn the names of the species and the phenomena that shaped this new life of his: downs; combes; brambles; oystercatcher; skylark – it was the beginning of a love affair.

From these ostensibly discrete threads is woven a large, heartbreakingly resonant story: for Malay is interested above all in connectedness — in what these species tell us about the pasts and possible futures of the great world that pulses around us, and what their loss will mean for the other animals, including humans, who have evolved alongside them. 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. For fans 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.

It is a lyrical work of ecology and nature writing that focuses upon four 'uncharismatic' species, the eel, the moth, the mussel and the cricket, and uses them to tell a story that shows how amazing they are from a non-anthropocentric perspective. This is a book about falling in love with vanishing thingsLate Light is the story of Michael Malay's own journey, an Indonesian-Australian-American making a home for himself in England and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines.

Michael captures how it feels to find pockets of magic and meaning on our doorsteps, and how to sustain our hope for the future. 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. It's also peppered with lots of very interesting natural and social history that is weaved throughout the memoir, and takes subjects that can seem quite remote and academic (migration patterns, ecology) and not only makes them feel very interesting and immediate but also shows (in a very unsermonising way) how alienated we've become from the natural world. Now, one eel swims in a bucket: Malay notes its inquisitive eyes, and the “dash of red” visible in its translucent body — the creature’s fluttering heart.He spent his early years in Jakarta, Indonesia, before moving to Australia with his family at the age of ten. With presences, and with danger: for the enfeebled environment that dooms so many species will inevitably doom us too; there is, in the end, no escape.

Malay’s prose is gorgeous and astute; he looks with fresh eyes at unpopular species and finds poetry and meaning. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. 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.

This book is filled with genuinely thought provoking and sometimes quite touching reflections on things like the nature of home, the solace of friendship and community, loss, paying attention to the world outside of yourself, and the plurality of the tragedy taking place under our noses.

Its a thoughtfully written and at times quite personal memoir about someone who becomes fascinated by 'uncharismatic' animals that are threatened by the spectre and ongoing reality of extinction and ecological collapse - we follow them on their investigations and encounters with these creatures and the people who care for them, as they draw parallels and insights that are related back to the chapter themes. We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from.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. Late Light is the story of Michael Malay's own journey, an Indonesian-Australian-American making a home for himself in England and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines. In underscoring the concept of basic dignity as being the right of all species, and illuminating the idea of an expansive, planetary politics, Malay offers a bright, fierce hope for the future. Michael teaches at the University of Bristol, and this book explores the natural landscape in and around the city from the Mendips to Troopers Hill. During that first year, I also began filling notebooks with words gleaned from books and friends, terms like ‘heath’, ‘upland’ and ‘fen’, or ‘furze’, ‘hart’s tongue’ and ‘goosegrass’, or ‘Icknield Way’ and ‘Fosse Way’.