I’ve been fascinated by the power of place since I was tiny. I grew up as the child of British parents in New England, then lived several places before settling a few miles from where I started. As a writer, I come back again and again to how we relate to the land around us, and especially to the magic, lore, and traditions of our homes. We choose some of these, but others surprise us or are part of chance discoveries. I hope you enjoy these books that explore the power and magic of place as much as I have!
Rutherford’s saga follows the story of the New Forest in southern England, a place a number of my own books are set.
He has a deep love and fascination for the places, people, and traditions of the Forest, all the things that make it unique. I love how the stories shift and blend into each other, how details of history flow forward century to century into the future, and the many different ways people love and make choices about their home and the land they live on.
Most of all, Rutherford simultaneously puts a very human face on the New Forest, without losing any of the power and magic of the woods and bogs, plants and animals of the land itself.
A remarkable and ambitious novel whose central character is not a man or a woman, but the ancient New Forest of England.
Few places lie closer to the heart of the nation's heritage than the New Forest. Now Edward Rutherfurd weaves its history and legends into compelling fiction, from the mysterious killing of King William Rufus to treachery and witchcraft, smuggling and poaching: this is an epic tale of well-born ladies, lowly woodsmen, sailors, merchants and Cistercian monks.
The feuds, wars, loyalties and passions of generations reach their climax in a crime that shatters the decorous society of Jane Austen's…
All the books in Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series have a dramatic and powerful sense of place.
Set mostly in contemporary London, they explore the many ways that the genius loci - the spirit of a place - interacts with the larger world. I love the diversity and range here, not only in the backgrounds of the characters, but in the kinds of magic and the lore and history that matters to them (and what doesn’t) and how that changes what they want in the world.
Along the way, there are mysteries to solve, people to help, and justice to be done.
Book 1 in the Rivers of London series, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch.
My name is Peter Grant, and I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as the Filth.
My story really begins when I tried to take a witness statement from a man who was already dead...
Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. After taking a statement from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost, Peter comes…
The Bridge provides a compassionate and well researched window into the worlds of linear and circular thinking. A core pattern to the inner workings of these two thinking styles is revealed, and most importantly, insight into how to cross the distance between them. Some fascinating features emerged such as, circular…
Pamela Dean’sTam Linhas been top of my favourite books list since I first read it more than 20 years ago.
It’s also a fascinating, nuanced, and evocative book about the magic and fantasy of a particular time and place - in this case, a liberal arts college in the mid-1970s in Minnesota. The fantasy elements of the book are slow to emerge (and reward a re-read later).
Dean deftly weaves together details of the place - season to season - but also the way that the lives of students change across their time at college. Most of all is the feeling of something just around the corner, whether it’s a ghost, a hint of magic, bagpipes drifting through the night, or small details that don’t quite add up.
In the ancient Scottish ballad "Tam Lin," headstrong Janet defies Tam Lin to walk in her own land of Carterhaugh . . . and then must battle the Queen of Faery for possession of her lover’s body and soul. In this version of "Tam Lin," masterfully crafted by Pamela Dean, Janet is a college student, "Carterhaugh" is Carter Hall at the university where her father teaches, and Tam Lin is a boy named Thomas Lane. Set against the backdrop of the early 1970s, imbued with wit, poetry, romance, and magic, Tam Lin has become a cult classic—and once you begin…
Much of Windling’s work as an editor has revolved around fairy tales and the power of story. The Wood Wifecombines those with poetry and a tremendous love for the American Southwest (near Tucson, Arizona).
I love this book for the way it brings all those threads together and weaves them into something new, but something with long sturdy roots that anchor it in place, in time and history, and in both the personal and the mythical.
Leaving behind her fashionable West Coast life, Maggie Black comes to the Southwestern desert to pursue her passion and her dream. Her mentor, the acclaimed poet Davis Cooper, has mysteriously died in the canyons east of Tucson, bequeathing her his estate and the mystery of his life--and death.
Maggie is astonish by the power of this harsh but beautiful land and captivated by the uncommon people who call it home--especially Fox, a man unlike any she has ever known, who understands the desert's special power.
As she reads Cooper's letters and learns the secrets of his life, Maggie comes face-to-face…
Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks…
There are many possible non-fiction titles I might have included on this list.
Braiding Sweetgrass is a glowing example of the best of what non-fiction can offer that combines story, tradition, science, and relationship to the natural world. Kimmerer writes as a botanist and as an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
This lyrical book brings together lore from indigenous communities with a scientist’s eye for detail and context. I love it for how it gives me something new to look at in the world, and a new way to investigate learning about my own local fauna and flora.
Called the work of "a mesmerizing storyteller with deep compassion and memorable prose" (Publishers Weekly) and the book that, "anyone interested in natural history, botany, protecting nature, or Native American culture will love," by Library Journal, Braiding Sweetgrass is poised to be a classic of nature writing. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer asks questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces indigenous teachings that consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take "us on a journey that is…
If Rathna can create a new magical portal in a matter of weeks rather than years, she might just be able to get a few more people out of Germany's grasp in the early days of World War 2. Her husband Gabe will need to use every single one of his skills coordinating magical responses to the war, not only in Albion itself, but among the many esoteric and occult groups of Great Britain.
Old As The Hills follows Gabe and Rathna's adventures from the autumn of 1939 through the summer of 1940, a time of desperate plans to save lives, hold back invasion, and come home safely. It is full of ancient fae magic, the power of place, urgent witchcraft rituals, and unexpected encounters.
Wed in an arranged marriage to a man nearly fifty years her senior, sixteen-year-old Eileen O'Connell goes from being one of five unmarried sisters to becoming the mistress of Ballyhar, the great estate of John O'Connor, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Ireland.
Lem's a mace-wielding teen space-ninja in a universe of sentient insectoids, purple jungles, and insane electromagnetic fields. She solves most problems by hitting harder, and never plays by her enemy's rules - until Jared Diebol captures her.
Diebol's the rising leader of an army uniting the galaxy by force. He…
