Under the stars - Matt Gaw

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'A beautiful and luminous love letter to the night sky.'- Julian Hoffman, author ofIrreplaceable

Moonlight, starlight, the ethereal glow of snow in winter ... When you flick off a switch, other forms of light begin to reveal themselves.

In this beautifully written exploration of the power of the lights of night, Matt Gaw ventures forth into darkness to find out exactly what we're missing when we fill our world with artificial glow, obliterating the subtler natural lights that have guided us and wildlife for millennia.

Walking by the light of the moon in Suffolk and under the scattered buckshot of starlight in Scotland; braving the darkest depths of Dartmoor and the glare of 24/7 London,Under the Starsis an inspirational and immersive call to reconnect with the natural world - and to switch off.

We only need to step outside to find that, in darkness, the world lights up. Let's look up together.

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'Enchanting, fascinating and written with real soul and sensitivity.'- Rob Cowen, author ofCommon Ground

'Lyrical, warm, and suffused with the magic of the night' - Patrick Barkham, author ofThe Butterfly Isles

'One of the most inspiring of our young nature writers, with a highly original journey into darkness and night'- Stephen Moss, naturalist and author ofThe Robin: A Biography

Matt Gawis a writer, journalist and naturalist who lives in Bury St Edmunds, and is the author of the acclaimedThe Pull of the River: A Journey into the Wild and Watery Heart of Britain(E&T, 2017). His work has been published in theGuardian, theTelegraphand theTimes. He works with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, edits Suffolk Wildlife, currently writes a monthly country diary for the Suffolk Magazine and is a director of the Suffolk Festival of Ideas.

'Enchanting, fascinating and
written with real soul and sensitivity.'- Rob Cowen, author ofCommon Ground

'One of the most inspiring of
our young nature writers, with a highly original journey into darkness and
night'- Stephen
Moss, naturalist and author ofThe Robin: A Biography

'Lyrical, warm, and suffused
with the magic of the night'- Patrick Barkham, author ofThe Butterfly Isles

'A beautiful and - no other
word is more apt - luminous love letter to the night sky.'- Julian Hoffman, author ofIrreplaceable

"Gaw finds wonder in the dark... The stand-out chapter for me was his getting lost in the Woods of Cree in absolute pitch black. Deep primordial horrors arise and make for gripping reading...This is a powerful and valiant plea for us all to see that, unlike in science fiction, light isn't always good." -BBC Countryfile Magazine

"Under starlight and in moonlight, in the
depths of the dark forest and on the streets of a city centre, Gaw goes on a
nocturnal adventure to discover how light pollution disrupts and affects our
own mental wellbeing, and the wellbeing of wildlife, too. En routehe re-discovers the beauties of meteor showers and moonlight
meanders, and encourages us to go on our own midnight adventures. Lyrical and
lovely."-The Simple Things

"Passionately argued and perfectly
crafted...Under the Starsis
a timely and inspiring manifesto explaining how 'by lighting our world
sparingly, carefully... we can achieve something that would improve human
health, protect wildlife, and help us to reconnect to the landscape and
starscape at night'."-The Countryman

"An exquisite, lyrical blend of nature
writing, mythical story-telling and poetic elegy... Words are given to us in this book as a form
of protection, an armour, a glistening cloak with which to keep ourselves on
the track; no matter how cold it may be...Stunning." - Kerri ni Dochartaigh, Caught By the
River (Book of the Month)