Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, Chris Packham
Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, Chris Packham
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Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
A Memoir

Author: Chris Packham

Narrator: Chris Packham

Unabridged: 8 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ebury Digital

Published: 05/05/2016

Synopsis

Every minute was magical, every single thing it did was fascinating and everything it didn't do was equally wondrous, and to be sat there, with a Kestrel, a real live Kestrel, my own real live Kestrel on my wrist! I felt like I'd climbed through a hole in heaven's fence.An introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school, Chris Packham was only at home in the fields and woods around his suburban home. But when he stole a young kestrel from its nest, he was about to embark on a friendship that would teach him what it meant to love, and that would change him forever. In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Chris brings to life his childhood in the 70s, from his bedroom bursting with fox skulls, birds' eggs and sweaty jam jars, to his feral adventures. But pervading his story is the search for freedom, meaning and acceptance in a world that didn’t understand him.Beautifully wrought, this coming-of-age memoir will be unlike any you’ve ever read.

About Chris Packham

Chris Packham is one of the UK's leading naturalists and wildlife TV presenters inspiring audiences young and old to take notice of, get involved with and care for our natural environment. He is currently the leading host of BBC 2's Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch.His autobiography, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar was a number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, and a Radio 4 Book of the Week.As a campaigner Chris is a vociferous opponent of the badger cull and has called for the banning of driven grouse shooting. In April 2014 he and a small production team headed to Malta and the front line of the spring shoot. Their campaign 'Massacre on Migration - Malta' highlighted the illegal slaughter of migrating birds via daily video blogs for which they received the Green Ribbon Political Award from CIWEM.In October 2016 Chris earned the top honour at the Wildscreen Panda Awards - The Christopher Parsons Award for Outstanding Achievement - in recognition of his significant contribution to wildlife filmmaking, conservation and the public's understanding of the environment.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lizzie on December 05, 2020

I am in awe. Chris Packham's memoir Fingers in the Sparkle Jar is a brutal, beautiful book that subverts the memoir genre through third person accounts of events involving him. The timeline flicks around, with the Summer of 1975, the Summer of his kestrel, playing a centralised role. Alongside that......more

Goodreads review by Penny on July 04, 2016

Well, this was nothing remotely like what I was expecting........... I'd seen some good reviews in the paper, and I enjoy watching Chris Packham on various nature programmes on TV. I was expecting a gentle memoir of a boy growing up with a love of animals which he then turned into a successful career......more

Goodreads review by Penelope on March 08, 2016

This is a difficult book to review or even to describe but it is absolutely worth reading. Whilst described as a memoir it is more a collection of perfectly framed moments, some of which are hauntingly beautiful, others are heart wrenchingly sad and some are just downright icky. Raw, visceral, glori......more

Goodreads review by Mark on September 05, 2016

If you are expecting a book of rather sweet wildlife tales from your favourite TV personality then this book may not be for you. This is a brave and powerful book. It’s brave because it is a self-portrait of a rather weird kid – not good with people and not a bundle of laughs, it seems. A kid who was......more

Quotes

Fingers in the Sparkle Jar is like nothing else I know - a flickering vat of life itself. A brilliant and remarkable book.

It’s bold and beautiful, both raw and lyrical, and a rather special book. Independent

Incredibly powerful and moving.

A beautiful, riveting and disturbing read. Guardian

This book is courageous, disturbing, original and at times brilliant.

Richly lyrical and deeply confessional… a triumph of rhapsodic writing that can lift the heart. Radio Times

A magical portrait BBC R4 Midweek

Extraordinarily vivid and utterly unique…surely destined to be some of the most talked-about nature writing of the year BBC Countryfile Magazine

Astonishing… brilliantly written Radio Times

Fierce, disturbing and surprising Sunday Times

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