A Natural Year is a tome of hopefulness and regeneration from its very opening words (beneath an illustration of a waterhen) ‘Winter seems to get longer and darker the older one gets, and I celebrate and delight in any signs I come across of its approaching end and the longed-for beginning of spring.’ Donal O’Donoghue, RTE Guide



.'A modern Praeger – his knowledge of Ireland and its countryside is unrivalled’, Books Ireland.
 
‘Vivid and full of wonderful detail’, Colm Toibin, Cara Magazine.

‘I am greatly indebted to other authors. Most of all, perhaps, to Michael Fewer, who has shown me a path of excellence which I have tried, unsuccessfully, to follow’, Joss Lynam, Easy Walks Near Dublin.

‘One of Ireland’s best known walkers’, Lonely Planet Guide.

‘..a tapestry of colourful people, historical figures, successive waves of invaders with strange cultures and languages – all set against pleasant landscape and national wilderness areas.’ The Irish Mountain Log.

‘Michael Fewer, as always, has done his subject matter great service’, Hugh Oram, Books Ireland.

‘A unique social, historical and photographic survey…’ Waterford News and Star.

‘The historical detail is immense…although his knowledge is considerable he dishes out the information in small and easily digestible mouthfuls. The book has a modest tone – cultured but never lecturing.’ Dick Warner, The Irish Examiner.

‘He has a highly developed ability to read, or describe a landscape, its flora, fauna and history’, Albert Smith, Irish Independent.

Michael Fewer, long an eloquent observer of the Irish landscape and wildlife…there is something prescient about a book, in print on the very eve of a pandemic, pledging ‘the tranquil rhythms and restorative powers of Irish nature through the seasons.’ Michael Viney, Irish Times

From time to time I review a book which I wish I had written…It is fairly irritating that Fewer is able to turn something so simple into a superb book…I turned to the frontispiece to see who had provided the brilliant colour plates and the delicate black and white illustrations…Imagine my delight and horror as I read ‘illustrations and photographs by Michael Fewer’. Hats off. Jane Fenton, Irish Examiner

‘Each page of Fewer’s fine book makes the history and geography…so accessible, poetic, warm and tapped into the cortex of the beauty that characterises the uplands and valleys today,’ Frank Hanover, The Sunday Tribune.

‘The author’s commentary on the annotated history of each location and his superb photographs are quite stunning. His architectural eye does not desert him in this beautifully designed book’, Ruairi Quinn, The Irish Times.

‘Michael Fewer…is one of Ireland’s leading outdoor writers’, Dick Hogan, The Irish Times.

‘…laced with the drama of frightening climbs and the joy and inspiration he derives from the natural world’, The Munster Express.

‘Fewer…sifts through a palimpsest of overlapping pasts – grand ruins, little churches, fishermen’s cottages and pubs – and his artless reporting has moments of surrealism’, Michael Viney, The Irish Times.

‘has a finely tuned sense of what people like’, The Limerick Leader.

'A pleasure to read in so many ways’, Irish Mountain Log.

‘What comes across is a polite but inquisitive stranger learning truths about a place that would never be revealed to the average visitor. Travel writing should be like this, but often isn’t…’, Dick Warner, The Irish Examiner.

'Renowned Irish hillwalker and author’,  Anna Coogan, Evening Herald.

‘Ambles easily through space and time,’ Kevin Myers, The Irish Times.