‘The harbour light on this Epiphany is like that of Delft, milkily blue but touched with a rich dull gold. A listless tide slops against the moorings. The red brick lighthouse, stolen from Vermeer, rears above us.’

Critically-acclaimed author Donald Blythe returns with River Diary, the fifth volume in his much loved Wormingford Series, where he observes the progress of one whole calendar year in the river valley where he lives.

For all the changes in the contemporary countryside, timeless qualities remain and both are captured here with a poet’s understanding and imagination.

“[He] has depth and breadth, variety and humour, tenderness and straightforwardness, with none of the lushness that often mars rural writing.” Times Literary Supplement