«Stunning. Urgent. Unforgettable. Through this complex and loving portrait of a rural working man, Catrina Davies gives voice to all that has been lost and damaged in his lifetime, ours. She is a true successor to John Berger in writing with love and anger on behalf of threatened species and communities.»

Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep

«Original and powerful, I loved this book. This is a beautiful, powerful and truly original book which is nature writing at it's truest and finest. »

Clover Stroud

«This has the unmistakable smell of a classic. Davies has restored my flagging faith in the ability of language to tell the unvarnished truth. Here's a book worthy of Exmoor ravens and rivers and of the big, bold, dignified story it tells. I have no higher praise. »

Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild, Being a Human and Being a Beast

«It is a beguiling, earthy tale of a lost world, one rarely examined in print. Hedley's outlandish yarns about brawling and risk-taking mix with stories that reveal his complex relationship with nature.»

Independent (April Book of the Month)

«A tremendous book, both gritty and lyrical and often darkly funny»

Daily Mail

«From the wonderfully evocative title to the heart-rending yet spirit-lifting conclusion, Catrina examines, with great empathic power, how colossal forces work on the individual. In one man, we are shown vast epochal change; in him, we see the concerns and defiance and activities that were once considered as solely the province of gods. A brilliant and necessary book.»

Niall Griffiths

«Once Upon a Raven's Nest is a genuinely captivating tale of rural-lore - told through the thrilling narrative of one man's life; a good ol' country boy, a right character whose scraps and scrapes litter the pages. Chainsaws and tractors and torn love affairs fill the book, as Tommy's story is laid bare in a series of episodes and fractured snapshots carefully scattered within a timescale of environmental decline. There is a tough, brutal beauty here in Davies' depiction of the ways of the British countryside but love, and delight and the best of humanity, too.»

James Canton

«There is a raw energy here which is very appealing. Exmoor very rough and very ready. Pulses with life at every turn. Expertly told, the fragmentary collision Of lives and a planet, deer, salmon, trees, tractors and a chainsaw or two. Exmoor verbatim as you never seen it before. Outdoors means out doors.»

James Crowden

«Superb . . . listen to Tommy, recorded or scripted by Davies, and something gripping and honest emerges . . . a vivid picture of nature in the raw.»

Spectator

«This is a rich, beautiful and deeply moving book. I read it in one sitting, then was sorry that I had not drawn it out for longer, as I enjoyed it so much.»

George Monbiot