Thirst: In Search of Freshwater

by Robert Macfarlane

Hardcover

Published June 26, 2025

About the author

Robert Macfarlane is a British nature writer and literary critic.

Educated at Nottingham High School, Pembroke College, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford, he is currently a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and teaches in the Faculty of English at Cambridge.

Robert Macfarlane is the author of prize-winning and bestselling books about landscape, nature, people and place, including Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination (2003), The Wild Places (2007), The Old Ways (2012), Holloway (2013, with Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards), Landmarks (2015), The Lost Words: A Spell Book (with the artist Jackie Morris, 2017) and Underland: A Deep Time Journey (2019). His work has been translated into many languages, won prizes around the world, and his books have been widely adapted for film, television, stage and radio. He has collaborated with artists, film-makers, actors, photographers and musicians, including Hauschka, Willem Dafoe, Karine Polwart and Stanley Donwood. In 2017 he was awarded the EM Forster Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Lily Peacock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unbelievable collection of essays and poems about water. The format, themes and writing style is so varied and beautiful but they're perfect companions to one another. Rebecca Sonlit's 'The World is Blue at its Edges' is so simple and moving, I think about it every time I look at the horizon. Vandana Shiva's 'Water Justice' is incredibly well researched and moving and pairs beautifully with There Are Rivers In the Sky. We are all a part of the water cycle. I could go on and on about this collection, I can't wait to re-read it. The Tubewell, Divining Mary and Robert Macfarlane's memorable foreword are real highlights too. Read this, fight for water justice, swim in rivers and lakes and listen to indigenous people.

'In Urdu and Hindi, water is known as ab. The word Abadi, derived from ab, is also the word for community.'

[mia :•) · Rating 4 out of 5]

loses a star for ocean vuong’s terrible terrible poem

[Matt Sharland · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every time I visit her she teaches me the constancy of change; she is never the same. She is an artist, sculpting stones in her own bed”

Gorgeous collection work full of fun facts and beautiful imagery all about water.

“In Urdu and Hindi, water is known as Ab and from it derives Abadi, the word for community”

[Lesley Cheung · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

As with any anthology, some really high highs, and some really low lows

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, moving, worrisome and meditative collection of works themed around Water. A very strong collection.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Unless we remember, we cannot repair, and what we cannot repair will keep resurfacing and coming back, again and again.” Elif Shafak

[Lucy Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous snippets of writing. Some of my faves like Jessica J Lee included.