Dina Gregory, author of a new audio adaptation of The Little Mermaid, tells us: "The smallest of three sisters, I grew up in the South West of England with the moors visible from my bedroom window. A steep walk and wooden latch were all that separated my ordinary home from an enchanted landscape: gnarled, wind-swept trees, ravens soaring above the heath, granite stones standing sentry, grisly sheep bones scattered in the bracken, chattering hedgerows teeming with life. It’s probably no coincidence that many of my favorite books possessed similar gateways—portals to untamed worlds where danger, whimsy, and magic prevail. Here are five that come to mind."
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For me, no author captures the British countryside better than Kenneth Grahame. All those lost words that nature writer Robert MacFarlane rightly laments are disappearing from the English language can be found in the descriptive passages interleaving the madcap adventures of Ratty, Mole, Badger, and motor-car-obsessed Toad. I adored these anthropomorphic animals and their antics, which is why it was such an honor to be asked, as an adult, to create an audio adaptation of this whimsical tale and to commune, once again, with a landscape that, as a US resident, I deeply miss.