What’s yours?
That’s the question that lies behind my new book, The Sacred Combe.
After all, we’ve all got one. A secret, special place: enclosed, set apart, hidden. Here the wildlife seems richer, more confiding. Here the birds are slightly more exotic, the grass greener and the fruit sweeter. To know such a place, to love such a place, is part of being human.
Sometimes it’s a place of myth, like the Garden of Eden. Sometimes it exists in fictional form, like Narnia or Shangri-La. Sometimes it comes in memories of a golden day in childhood, or in a glorious, doomed love affair. Sometimes it’s a real place that we daren’t go back to, for fear that it – or we – had changed.
And just occasionally it’s a real place. A place where you leave a small piece of your heart and return as often as you can so as not to lose it. It’s a place of privilege.
The book begins with my first night in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia, and it was a homecoming. I knew I had come home when I woke in the middle of the night to find a small group of elephants eating my hut.
In the book I have combined memories of Luangwa and the sense of privilege that everyone feels within its walls, with the eternal search for the sacred combe: for the special places of the world, for the places packed with meaning.
The book will be published in January, and I’m delighted to be able to offer a 25 per cent discount. Here’s a link http://bloomsbury.com/uk/the-sacred-combe-9781472914026/
Add SACRED25 when you reach the check-out and you’re home and hosed.
Pleases read it and tell me about your own sacred combe.
reubenftourettes says
3 December 2015 at 12:09 pmWell done! I’m looking forward to it! My scared combe is wherever I can stand like a Heron and listen to the river singing.
Simon Barnes says
6 December 2015 at 12:21 pmThat sounds good enough to me. I heard the squeak of a kingfisher on the dyke by my writing hut just yesterday.
Bob Reeves says
3 December 2015 at 1:12 pmReuben has written of a scared Coombe!! Maybe yours is also a bit scary, Simon. Mine is not that far away from yours, in Continental terms anyway- Lewa Down in Kenya. A magical place.
Book ordered! Not in time to send several as Xmas presents though. Bad timing.
Simon Barnes says
6 December 2015 at 12:20 pmI hope you enjoy both your sacred combe and mine.
Judith says
6 December 2015 at 5:12 pmMine is lake Hannington/Bogoria. Sadly the water has now risen to cover our favourite haunts, but it is still special.
Your original articles in the Times about South Luangwa introduced us to the area …..now one of our favourite places too. Thank you!
Simon Barnes says
8 December 2015 at 7:09 pmI am so glad that you followed me two Luangwa. It’s a special place alright. Lake Hannington looks fabulous from the pictures. What are the star species?
Pat Leighton says
17 December 2015 at 4:55 pmGreat news about the new book, Simon. I’ll be ordering that very soon, as essential reading, as I recover from a heart attack (6 Dec). No long rambles for the foreseeable, but in time I can return to my local patch, probably just in time to hear the mating chorus in Feb. Thank you for this bright spot on my otherwise limited horizon.
Simon Barnes says
19 December 2015 at 8:48 pmLord, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you’re heading in a good direction now. It would be a fine thing if my book gave you any help whatsoever. Thanks for being so loyal as to get in touch in these difficult times, all best wishes to you.
Pat Leighton says
19 December 2015 at 10:05 pmAh, thanks very much for that, Simon. I am told that, in time, I should be back to my old self, but that will be a ‘new’ me since I am also told that having a heart attack is a life-changing experience. I’ll let you know….
Simon Barnes says
21 January 2016 at 5:06 pmJust keep on keeping on.