“Warm, honest, and beautifully observed. This superbly compelling book will resonate with anyone who values deep connections between place, nature, and animals.”

I have read all Beth Haslam’s books and loved every one of them, so I was thrilled to be asked to beta read Beyond the Forest Fringe. However, to my mind, this latest in the Fat Dogs and French Estates series surpasses everything she written to date, because it seems to me that this book, more than any of her previous memoirs, is written straight from her heart. With her deep-rooted and lifelong love of wildlife and animals, I believe Beth has written a masterpiece in the same league as The Elephant Whisperer. It is both superbly written and a perceptive exploration of the relationships we can build with our natural world and its inhabitants if only we take the time to nurture them. Interspersed with these fascinating, inspiring observations, insights and information about the forest surrounding her home are Beth’s signature humorous anecdotes, her affectionate accounts of her grumpy husband’s testy behaviour and stories relating to her wonderful neighbours, but the forest and its inhabitants are the stars of this book, especially one of them. The unusual trust she and Jack build with this exceptional forest dweller gives me goosebumps even now. It’s hard to sum up such a special book but perhaps this says it: I learned, I laughed and I wept at the Haslams’ experiences, but above all, I was uplifted.

“This is a story that will draw you in, move you, and deepen your appreciation of nature… I felt as if I had walked the woodland tracks alongside the author.”