The Robin: A Biography

In twelve, exquisite chapters, natural history expert Stephen Moss transports us across the robin’s brief but glorious life.

This is Britain’s favourite bird played out in full. It is an animal of contrasts; the born survivor, so pretty in feather and song, but fiercely territorial. This is a bird given to courage, its modest stature belying its ability to defend its turf.

Beautifully presented with illustrations lifted from over a century of our shared culture, The Robin: A Biography is both a monthly chronicle of the bird’s life and also an investigation into why it symbolises so much. From being the gardener’s friend to its position in our folklore, Moss reveals this creature to be less a creature of the field as a mirror to ourselves.