Skip to product information
1 of 1

Goldsboro Books

9780241624814

Is a River Alive?

Is a River Alive?

by Robert Macfarlane

Publisher Hamish Hamilton

Genre: General Fiction and Non-Fiction

Publication date:

Available from:

  • Signed by the author on a tip-in page
  • Hardback
  • UK First Edition, First Printing
  • Independent Bookshop Edition


Regular price £25.00
Regular price Sale price £25.00
Sale Sold out
Rendering loop-subscriptions

Out of stock

Rendering loop-subscriptions

Limited Edition Copies

View full details
  • Professionally Packed

    All of our books that have a dust wrapper are covered in clear protective, removable film and are packed professionally in bubble wrap and a box for shipping so that they reach you in perfect condition.

  • Book Condition & Notes

About the book

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.

At once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has

Collapsible content

About the Author

Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlaneis internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His bestselling books includeUnderland,Landmarks,The Old Ways,The Wild PlacesandMountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem,Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, and films includingRiverandMountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe. He has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationally bestselling books of nature-poetry and art,The Lost WordsandThe Lost Spells.As a lyricist and performer, he has written albums and songs with musicians including Cosmo Sheldrake, Karine Polwart and Johnny Flynn, with whom he has released two albums,Lost In The Cedar Wood(2021) andThe Moon Also Rises(2023). In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2022 in Toronto he was the inaugural winner of the Weston International Award for a body of work in the field of non-fiction. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is currently completing his third book with Jackie Morris:The Lost Birds.

Collapsible content

GPSR EU Safety Information

1. Manufacturer Contact Information

Goldsboro Books Ltd - 23-27 Cecil Court, London, WC2N4EZ, enquiries@goldsborobooks.surf, 02074979230

2. EU Authorised Representative Information

Easy Access System Europe - Mustamäe tee 50, 10621 Tallinn, Estonia, gpsr.requests@easproject.com

3. Safety Warnings

Not applicable

  • PREM1ER: January 2027 Revealed

    PREM1ER: January 2027 Revealed

    Rebecca McDonnell

    Why We Chose Beautiful Liars by Amanda Cassidy for January’s PREM1ER Book A new year, a new chapter, and a story where nothing is quite as perfect as it seems… We're...

    Rebecca McDonnell

    PREM1ER: January 2027 Revealed

    Why We Chose Beautiful Liars by Amanda Cassidy for January’s PREM1ER Book A new year, a new chapter, and a story where nothing is quite as perfect as it seems… We're...

  • Crime Collective: January 2027 Revealed

    Crime Collective: January 2027 Revealed

    Rebecca McDonnell

    Introducing Our January 2027 Crime Collective Pick: Wolf Point by Lisa Howells One missing girl. Three possibilities. No turning back. We're starting a brand-new year of the Crime Collective with...

    Rebecca McDonnell

    Crime Collective: January 2027 Revealed

    Introducing Our January 2027 Crime Collective Pick: Wolf Point by Lisa Howells One missing girl. Three possibilities. No turning back. We're starting a brand-new year of the Crime Collective with...

  • The People Who Made Books

    The People Who Made Books

    David H Headley

    It started with Pan. Not Peter Pan, but Pan Books. I had been wondering why Pan Macmillan was called Pan Macmillan. The answer led me back to Pan Books and...

    David H Headley

    The People Who Made Books

    It started with Pan. Not Peter Pan, but Pan Books. I had been wondering why Pan Macmillan was called Pan Macmillan. The answer led me back to Pan Books and...

  • We're Hiring: PART-TIME BARISTA & BAR STAFF (London)

    We're Hiring: PART-TIME BARISTA & BAR STAFF (Lo...

    Rebecca McDonnell

    Are you passionate about coffee, books and eager to share your love of literature with others? Goldsboro Books, the UK's leading independent retailer of signed first editions, is seeking experienced and enthusiastic...

    Rebecca McDonnell

    We're Hiring: PART-TIME BARISTA & BAR STAFF (Lo...

    Are you passionate about coffee, books and eager to share your love of literature with others? Goldsboro Books, the UK's leading independent retailer of signed first editions, is seeking experienced and enthusiastic...

1 of 4