Emma describes the inspiration this book provided through a seven year odyssey that took the author to the home of the sea-gypsies, the freedom fighters of West Papua, Amazonian shamans and the Inuit in order to capture, the feral wildness that howls – however muffled – within all human hearts.

So a travel writer is asked to choose his life-changing book – and he chooses not Leigh Fermor, not Norman Lewis, not Jan Morris, but a children’s story. Not a good look. Read on to find out why.

Award-winning writer of travel, history and fiction, Philip Marsden recalls his love for Isaac Babel and his short stories in this edition of our life changing reads.

Bestselling travel writer, Horatio Clare, tells the story behind his life changing read and the influence it has had on his writing career.

Number one best-selling historian, Antony Beevor, tells us of his love for Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. 

Author Laura Beatty takes us back and describes the defining moment she encountered The Bull of Minos by Leonard Cottrell and how this book inspired her journey as a writer.