The Swimmer

Patrick Barkham

The definitive biography of beloved author, Roger Deakin

Roger Deakin is best known for his modern classic of nature writing, Waterlog A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain, which frog-kicked the wild swimming movement into existence with wit, politics and poetry.

But he was not simply a dazzling writer and eccentric Englishman. He took his counterculture to the countryside in the 1970s and rebuilt a 16th century farmhouse from its oak beams up. He turned to self-sufficiency, teaching and environmentalism. He became a music impresario and made films, radio programmes and hundreds of friends from all classes - aristocrats, poachers, actors, builders, musicians, tearaways, from city and from town. He was a polymath, an enthusiast, an adventurer, a romantic and rebel.

Patrick Barkham's biography follows Roger Deakin's tree of life, from roots to fruits, revealing the inner life of an extraordinary man. 280 pages.

Softback £10.99 £9.99