Description

‘Remarkable . . . tender, direct and clear-sighted’ TLS

When Adrian Potter retires from a life of teaching in West Yorkshire, his interests turn to a local badger group. He takes over the ‘Badger Phone’, which he comes to realise is something of a hot potato. He is inundated with calls: reports of sightings, requests for advice about feeding, complaints about badgers digging up lawns. Adrian, reborn as the ‘Badger Man’, travels West Yorkshire with two other enthusiasts in tow: Pam, and Derek, a retired miner with ruined teeth. However, it doesn’t stop with badgers. Adrian soon finds himself taking on fox and deer incidents, because no network of care exists for these other larger mammals.

Interrupted Journeys is an unconventional memoir about one man’s experiences with animals that lead hidden lives, and the consequences when they collide with our world. It movingly describes the author nursing wounded badger cubs, rescuing injured roe deer, liberating trapped foxes, as well as encounters with a host of other animals. And it thrillingly reveals a man who finds a second childhood in later life through contact with nature.

Publisher Review

Tells the story of [an] unconventional retirement . . . [and] the toll our cars are taking on wildlife * Sunday Times * Details his close encounters with West Yorkshire’s wild animals, exploring their largely hidden lives * Yorkshire Post * Unique * BBC News * Vivid storytelling * Yorkshire Living * A book that is remarkable, and all the more potent, for its diffidence. This is not an account of Potter’s humanocentric feelings about his new role as much as a book about all the wild things he loves . . . tender, direct and clear-sighted. This is the result of an author presenting his difficult subject with the utmost care, and leaving himself out of the story * TLS *