The Shepherd's Life

Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape

By: James Rebanks

Narrated by: Bryan Dick

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

The instant number-one international best seller.

Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. He's the first son of a shepherd who was the first son of a shepherd himself; his family have lived and worked in the Lake District of Northern England for generations, further back than recorded history. It's a part of the world known mainly for its romantic descriptions by Wordsworth and the much-loved illustrated children's books of Beatrix Potter.

But James' world is quite different. His way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand. It hasn't changed for hundreds of years: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the grueling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the lightheadedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the hills and valleys.

The Shepherd's Life is the story of a deep-rooted attachment to place, modern dispatches from an ancient landscape that describe a way of life that is little noticed and yet has profoundly shaped the landscape over time. In evocative and lucid prose, James Rebanks takes us through a shepherd's year, offering a unique account of rural life and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost. It is a story of working lives, the people around him, his childhood, his parents and grandparents, a people who exist and endure even as the culture - of the Lake District and of farming - changes around them. Many memoirs are of people working desperately hard to leave a place. This is the story of someone trying desperately hard to stay.

©2015 James Rebanks (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"It's bloody marvelous." (Helen Macdonald, New York Times best-selling author of H Is for Hawk)

"Captivating.... A book about continuity and roots and a sense of belonging in an age that's increasingly about mobility and self-invention. Hugely compelling." (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

Beautiful story

Very moving, beautiful story. It was a privilege to hear about this man’s life and land and loves.

And the reader was fantastic.

Beautiful

Thank you for a perfectly read insight into a shepherd’s life revealing the intimate and intelligent bond between humans, sheep, dogs, and seasons.

Amazing documentary of a way of life rapidly disappearing

It was like walking in the hills, laying on the grass, observing the beautiful landscape. It was beautifully narrated. I am hoping the author writes another specifically on sheep farming including raising, breeding and doctoring. Covers superficially sheep farming more in a romantic anecdotal way, but very knowledgeable of the old way of doing things, I am very interested on learning such ways before they are lost.

Excellent!

This is a dynamic book written in in the spirit of Wendell Berry. Highly recommended!

Dr. Stephen York

Deserves TEN stars

I'm on my third listen and still discovering profound new insights. I need to own this book in print -- and I don't say that often.

Memoir is my favorite genre, so sheep and sheepdogs and the Lake District sounded perfect -- James Herriot from the farmer's point of view. But as someone who lives in and loves my own rural place, without being truly "hefted" here (you'll understand when you've listened to the book), I was immediately caught up in James Rebank's central question -- how different groups of people develop a sense of "ownership" of a place, a landscape, based on their own expectations and experiences there. The 18th and 19th century artists and poets romanticized the Lake District. Hikers and tourists have made it their own. Teachers (at least the ones Rebanks encountered at the local comprehensive in his day), counted their successes as the students who escaped to other places. And yet, the Lake District is a working landscape -- created by centuries of farmers and livestock interacting with the land. So if there is a question of who holds claim to the "real" Lake District (and sometimes there is), Rebanks argues persuasively that title goes to the forgotten centuries of nameless farmers and shepherds, who cleared the fields, planted the hedgerows, and patiently built and rebuilt the endless miles of stone walls, a few feet every year.

The autobiography and the sheep stories are just the backdrop of a profound and multifaceted consideration of place, community, and what constitutes a life worth living. The story of how the author went from dropout to Oxford would be fascinating if he was at all impressed. He's not. The main thing he got from university, from his point of view, was the ability to earn enough money to keep his farm going another generation. And yet, how much of his keen awareness of the forces brought to bear on his beloved way of life does he owe to his education?

Anyway, an amazing book. The narrator does just what he should -- reads well and convincingly, and stays out of the way of the story.

Not to be missed.

As an American shepherdess, I found so much to identify with while listening to this story. I found much truth about this way of life told with almost unbearable insight. For anyone wishing to better understand why some of us cherish this vocation, they can not do better than to read or listen to this book. Well done you, Mr. Rebanks.
And a tip of the hat to Bryan Dick for the reading.

BRYAN DICK BRINGS THIS BOOK ALIVE

Bryan Dick's narration of this book brought it alive and made it a delightful listen. I've recommended it to all my family.

Sarah

Absolutely loved it!

It’s erudite, heartfelt and simply wonderful. A man growing from young adult to manhood and reclaiming his roots in his love of the land and his sheep. How much I can share his feeling about his his sheep and land. I once had a small flock of Shetland sheep, another one of those unimproved breeds. I miss them so much but had to give them up for my health. Every thing James Rebanks writes about being a shepherd is true. And one can’t help but love sheep. I always loved the way they smelled - the predominant odor is lanolin, except during breeding time when the males take on their must smell. This is just a wonderful narrative.

Surprisingly good

It was both a restful and stimulating read. It made one feel as though he were there,
observing and even experiencing the life of a shepherd.

A Glimpse into a Different World

I so enjoyed this book. I initially picked it up because I am a passionate knitter and was interested in learning a little about the life of people involved in the wool world. While these particular sheep are not raised for their wool, tending them is probably similar to that of the wool producing type. I could not believe how difficult a life a shepherd leads. The commitment is year round and intense. I have gained a new respect for the whole industry and all its perils. The book is also beautifully written and the narrator excellent.
Thank you, James Rebanks!
Barbara Lankler