IS A RIVER ALIVE?

In conversation with Sophy Roberts

Around the world, rivers are dying from pollution, drought and damming, but a powerful movement is underway to recognise the lives and rights of rivers. At the heart of this book is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law. On a global journey which crosses boundaries of time and space, from Ecuador, India and Quebec, to the chalk stream a mile from his house, Is A River Alive? is Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date. It teems with fascinating ideas, unforgettable characters and stories.