Kestrel Reads Book Discussion - Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey

Looking for your next good read? Join us for **Kestrel** **Reads**, a quarterly book discussion group to help you delve deeper into books about nature, environmental issues, and people’s relationship to the land. For our Fall nonfiction selection, we’ll discuss ***Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey***, the acclaimed international bestseller (published in 2021) about the story of how one farmer - guided by the past - made a legacy for the future. Author **James Rebanks** runs a family-owned farm in the Lake District in northern England. He is a graduate of Oxford University and works as an expert advisor to UNESCO on sustainable tourism.

Read or listen to his book this Summer, then meet up to discuss it on **Wednesday, September 20th, 6:30-8:30 PM** at the Kestrel House in Amherst. Please register in advance.

*“Thank the gods of agriculture for James Rebanks. … A lyrical narrative of experience, tracing 40 years and three generations of farming on his family’s land as it is buffeted by the incredible shifts in scale, market, methods and trade rules that have changed farming all over the world. … We experience that esoteric life through Rebanks’ evocative storytelling, learning with him to appreciate not only the sheep and crops he’s learning to tend, but the wild plants and animals that live among and around them.” - New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice*

Like so many of the arts, the written word has the power to inform but also to reach the heart. Book clubs expand on this experience by providing a common, respectful, creative space to listen and be heard, as well as to amiably disagree. Book lovers who share and explore ideas with each other become better readers, writers, and collaborators. Unpacking a good book deepens and enriches the story or content, giving you insights you’ll carry into the next read, creative endeavor, or conversation.

Kestrel member **Cheri LeBlond** will moderate. Cheri has moderated book clubs for almost 10 years. A former bookstore owner, she’s had the pleasure of exploring the joys and pitfalls of storytelling with avid readers, dedicated writers, and persnickety publishers.