Book excerpt: 'Essential reading for anybody who cares about the future’ Henry Marsh, *New Statesman Books of the Year* A radical examination of Britain's relationship with the land by one of our greatest nature writers. **SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT GOLDEN BEER BOOK PRIZE 2019** The British love their countryside more than almost any other nation, yet they live in one of the most denatured landscapes on Earth. From the flatlands of Norfolk to the tundra-like expanse of the Flow Country in northern Scotland, Mark Cocker sets out on a personal quest through the British countryside attempting to solve this puzzle. Radical, provocative and original, Our Place tackles some of the central issues of our time whilst mapping out a future in which this overcrowded island of ours could be a place fit not just for human occupants but also for its billions of wild citizens. ‘A tour de force... By turns hopeful, melancholy, humorous and heartfelt’ BBC Wildlife Book of the Month