A new life of the curate Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne, is coming in September from Jenny Uglow, biographer, historian and former editorial director of Chatto & Windus. In A Year with Gilbert White: The First Great Nature Writer, she follows him through 1781 as he recorded it in his Naturalist’s Journal: from frost to summer drought, from the migration of birds to the coming of the harvest. Faber, the publisher, says the book offers a “captivating glimpse into the life and mind of this pioneering man”, and “invites us to see the natural world anew, with astonishment and wonder”.