Morning

How to make time: A manifesto

By: Allan Jenkins

Narrated by: Allan Jenkins, Samuel West

‘This is my manifesto for morning.

There is an energy in the earlier hours, an awareness I enjoy. In today’s world we tend to wake as late as we can, timed to when we have to work. But we don’t need to chase the day.’

In Morning, Allan Jenkins shows how getting up earlier even once a week or month can free us to be more imaginative, to maybe read, to walk, to write. He talks to other early risers such as Jamie Oliver and Samuel West, to poets and painters. We hear from a neuroscientist about sleep, a philosopher about dawn, a fisherman about light. Allan wakes early, he listens, he looks. He introduces us to a secret world.

This is a celebration of dawn and morning: the best time of day.

Critic reviews

‘In this philosophical hymn to the pleasure of waking early Allan Jenkins says that dawn is an enchanted world behind a hidden door, a time where you can be anybody you want to be, because the rest of the world is asleep… it steadily becomes incredibly persuasive … there’s a golden period to do the things that are otherwise impossible in our busy lives. Seize the day indeed’ Observer

‘A lovely read: illuminating conversations with early risers, from Jamie Oliver to dawn-seeking fishermen, interspersed with diary-style essays. It made me want to set my alarm a full hour earlier’ Psychologies

Praise for Allan Jenkins:

‘Plot 29 is a superbly written testament to the power of earth to nourish and heal. The writing is taut and honed to a sinewy strength, but rich with evocation and delight … I loved it’ Monty Don

‘The sort of book you never forget reading: devastating, haunting and utterly beautiful’ India Knight

‘An absolutely original book. Absolutely brilliant. The best family memoir I’ve read in years’ Bill Buford

‘Allan Jenkins blooms. His garden bears fruit. Enter the seasons with him and grow. I love this book’ Lemn Sissay

‘Brave, exquisitely written and utterly compelling’ Nigel Slater