Book Review – April 2023

We come from water, and water runs through us. It carries our chemistry and our stories. It shows us more than itself: all the colours and none. We are mostly water for all of our lives, but water is only us for a short time before it becomes something else. Perhaps we leave something of ourselves with it.

As a biologist, a nature writer and a kayaker Amy-Jane Beer has spent much of her life in and around water. But it was the tragic death of her friend, Kate, in a kayaking accident on the River Rawthey in Cumbria on New Year’s Day 2012 that proved to be the eventual catalyst for her to write The Flow.

Kate’s death was a shattering blow to Beer and caused her to fall out of love with rivers and paddling. Several years later, while visiting the scene of her friend’s death, Beer has a sense of Kate’s presence, but not the catharsis she had hoped for. She was inspired, however, to embark on the travels and research that led to this book.

Just like water The Flow eddies, swirls and percolates. And, as with water, Beer’s narrative meanders along across 400 pages, sometimes gentle, other times powerful, but always relentless in its cyclical lifeforce. She moves effortlessly from science to mythology, embracing nature and human activity and weaving in her own personal story.

Her journeys take her to Dartmoor, Wales, Scottish salmon rivers, the Fens, the chalk streams of southern England and rivers closer to her home in Yorkshire. Beer writes in a style that is discursive, but which is at the same time engaging and easy to follow.

Throughout The Flow, Beer explores some of the biggest challenges facing the vital resource that is our water today. This includes issues related to pollution, overuse, and climate change. She discusses the ways in which these challenges are affecting ecosystems and communities around the world, and highlights some of the innovative solutions that are being developed to address them. She also examines the issues around access to our rivers and the varying demands of farmers, landowners, walkers, wild swimmers, anglers, paddlers and the statutory authorities.

The Flow is a work of contemplative beauty. But it is also a call to action. Even as I write this review my news feed is telling me that UK water companies released untreated sewage, tens of thousands of litres of human waste, into our rivers 825 times a day last year.

Amy-Jane Beer

Dr Amy-Jane Beer is a biologist turned naturalist and writer. She has worked for more than 20 years as a science writer and editor, contributing to more than 40 books on natural history. She is currently a Country Diarist for The Guardian, a columnist for British Wildlife and a feature writer for BBC Wildlife magazine, among others. She campaigns for the equality of access to nature and collaboration between farming and conservation sectors.

The Flow: Rivers, Water and Wildness

Amy-Jane Beer

Bloomsbury

August 2022 

UK – £17.09 (hardback) £9.89 (paperback)