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A Single Swallow: Following An Epic Journey From South Africa To South Wales Paperback – 4 Mar 2010

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Horatio Clare (Author)
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Horatio Clare (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 21 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (4 Mar. 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 009952631X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099526315
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 44,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"Clare's extraordinary and mesmerising odyssey following the migration of the swallow from South Africa to South Wales" (Annabel Goldie Herald)

"A gifted and lyrical travel writer" (Financial Times)

"The author deploys some fine lyrical writing and a gift for inventive, unexpected metaphor ... Clare's other great asset is his brave, modern, multicultural and open-hearted approach to travel itself" (Mark Cocker Guardian)

"Fizzingly entertaining. His own prose has something of their flight: daring, sharp-edged, fast-moving, graceful, full of surprises. This is a great adventure, thrillingly realised" (Tom Fort Literary Review)

"Remarkably insightful and entertaining, with Clare proving himself to be the most enthusiastic, open-minded, intelligent and incorrigibly romantic of travellers" (Mail on Sunday)

Review

`Clare has produced an enthusiastic, often elegiac, chronicle of his encounters with the swallows' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA superb and honest account of one man's journey through Africa, Spain and France
By epupafalls on 28 Aug. 2009
Format: Hardcover
A modern day Laurie Lee - but with more grit and honesty. A Single Swallow is many things - part natural history, part journalism, part autobiography. There is spiritual observation and thought, there is romance and there is of course history and geography. The portrait of West Africa is dark, shocking, humorous and beautiful. Clare's ability to be both personal and objective in how he writes and observes, aided by his phemomenal and rhythmic prose, are winning ingredients in this quite brilliant book.
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5.0 out of 5 starswondrous
By Faye on 1 Jun. 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This book is a wonderful account of the journey of a swallow throughout its migration. I am completely in awe of how this little bird can fly so far. All the countries it flies over and to are discussed in a brilliant narrative. Buy it! Then next time you see a swallow arrive in the spring imagine its journey and be amazed.
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4.0 out of 5 starsThe Journey of a Single Bird.
By Stewart M TOP 1000 REVIEWER on 12 Aug. 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Swallows have been loved, mythologised and studied by almost all human cultures where they are found. However, it has only been in recent years that the true magnitude of their journey has been understood. From their non-breeding grounds in southern Africa to the summer of the north, where they breed, the journey of the swallow is truly remarkable.

Swallows (technically Barn Swallows) have nested on and in the buildings of the author's Welsh farm for years and when they return in the summer "his swallows" have flown from South Africa back to the farm in about one month. The author's journey takes more or less the same path, and the same time - from South Africa back to his Welsh routes in about one month.

The journey of the Swallows is beset with dangers and random encounters, and along the way they may acquire a mate, survive by good luck rather than skill and find food wherever they can. This is a style of travel embraced by the author, and the book is based not only on the flight path that the Swallows take, but also the people he meets along the way. If the swallows fly from habitat to habitat on the way to Wales to breed, the author moves from relationship to relationship until he too finds his way home to Wales.

Throughout this splendid book there are gems to be found, trains with fewer doors than doorways, the idea that he is not travelling north, but staying in Spring as the world turns, that as we retreat into our world of ear-phoned tunes that only shared music left in Europe is the sound of traffic and that peculiar conceit that there is a fundamental difference between "travel" and "tourism". Each of these short sections would be a high point in any other book, but here they occur regularly.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsWit, compassion and beauty in a book.
By Rosie Morgan on 1 Sept. 2016
Format: Paperback
A tip to all new parents: if you want your child to grow up and do, or be, something extraordinary – then give him, or her, an extraordinary name. I would wager that any boy named Horatio was odds on to make his mark. Travelling 6,000 miles in one journey is probably one way of doing that.
A Single Swallow is the most beguiling book I’ve had the good fortune to be introduced to in a very long time. From beginning to end it’s a charmer, introducing you to cultures, countries and peoples most of us never encounter. For the first time in my life I have an inkling of the true flavour of some of Africa’s countries – and I’m entranced.
A Single Swallow doesn’t flag once; it’s beautifully written, interlaced with wit and compassion and startling revelations. Although many of us know it already, especially if we’re fortunate enough to live in a free country with the freedom to travel to other countries, Horatio Clare’s book brings home the hardships so many folk endure. It also highlights the colour and music and openness of much of Africa.
Mmm. Off to buy another of Mr Clare’s books methinks. And who knows … maybe now I’ll go and visit one of those sand dams I’ve viewed from rather too far - for rather too long.
Thank you Mr Clare for your inspirational words.
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3.0 out of 5 starsAn OK read
By Brian on 9 Nov. 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is very much a travel book and the mention of swallows and nature is quite limited. There is some very good descriptions of the countries that the author passes through and the reader is given historical information along the way. I especially enjoyed reading the description of Algiers. The author describes his many interactions with locals and others he meets along the way and I don't doubt his interest in bird-life as I've read Orison for a Curlew, and really enjoyed it. An enjoyable read, but nothing out of the ordinary.
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1.0 out of 5 starsA book about Swallows??
By Peter Collins on 12 Oct. 2010
Format: Paperback
Very disappointed with this book as I had high expectations of a good read. Instead of Swallows and descriptions of their epic journey from South Africa to UK I had to read a book about the travels and encounters of a angst-ridden individual who drooled sycophantically over every black African he met yet treated every white African as the devil incarnate.

I am a ravenous reader and this is he only book in the last few years that I have given up on. Good luck.
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1.0 out of 5 starsIrritating and lightweight
By Alan on 20 July 2010
Format: Paperback
What a disappointing book after the author's excellent Running for the Hills.

These kinds of travel books need a hook, and superficially the idea of following the swallow's migration from South Africa to Britain is a good one, but what lightweight execution! The author can't be bothered to get the right visas or sort out a viable continuous route across the African continent before his departure so has to interrupt his journey with flights in and out of the swallow's migration route on the way, which rather punctures any narrative flow.

Some of the journey, for example across Namibia, CongoBrazzaville and Cameroon, is interesting and occasionally funny, which makes the rest so much more disappointing.

The overall impression given is that of a barely-travelled gap-year student mooncalf, full of wide-eyed admiration for all things African and Arab while contemptuous of everything white and Western. The naivety and self-indulgence become tiresome very early on, and by the time the author has a hissy fit in Gibraltar, throwing his notebooks into the sea in some kind of Road to Damascus revelation about the evils of his European birthright, this particular reader was ready to call it a day.

An irritating and superficial travel book that taught me little about swallows I didn't already know and (with a couple of exceptions) even less about the countries the author travelled through.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsgood book and prompt

v. good book and prompt delivery

Published 19 days ago by Liz G.
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

I love this book

Published 6 months ago by cpem
5.0 out of 5 starsLovely book.

Such a beautiful book - would really recommend to anyone who enjoys travel writing or is interested in birds.

Published 11 months ago by Katrina James
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

very good writing about Africa not that much about swallows but never the less an interesting read

Published 21 months ago by meldrew
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

good

Published on 6 July 2014 by Jill Phipps
5.0 out of 5 starsA good read

Very engrossing account that has you right there with the author. Definitely insightful in terms of what its like to be out there.

Published on 2 Jan. 2014 by Hugo
1.0 out of 5 starsMore Swallow

Wonderful device but seriously badly written from an imperialist point of view.
A missed opportunity.
More swallow and less pontificating please.

Published on 13 Dec. 2012 by Elizabeth Dear
5.0 out of 5 starsOska

An excellent book following the exploits of the author's tortuous journey in pursuit of swallows migrating, with a totally unexpected twist.

Published on 4 Jun. 2012 by Oska
1.0 out of 5 starsUnexpected, thought provoking and material for a re-read soon.

Not my first Horatio Clare read - Running for the Hills was a very good introduction to his broad embrace of diary, description, anecdote, characters (often introduced by means of... Read more

Published on 9 Oct. 2011 by C. Ramsay
5.0 out of 5 starsread this

a wonderfully warm and engaging read, makes you feel what the traveller feels and it makes you want to go with him on an adventure, in fact, it makes you want to get him to adopt... Read more

Published on 5 May 2011 by rebecca shooter

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