The Fields Of Noon

by Sheila Burnford

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Sheila Philip Cochrane Burnford, née Every, (11 May 1918 – 20 April 1984) was an English novelist.

Born in Scotland but brought up in various parts of the United Kingdom, she attended St. George's School, Edinburgh and Harrogate Ladies College. In 1941 she married Doctor David Burnford, with whom she had three children. During World War II she worked as a volunteer ambulance driver. In 1951 she emigrated to Canada, settling in Port Arthur, Ontario.

Burnford is best remembered for The Incredible Journey, a story about three animals traveling in the wilderness (1961), the first of a number of books she wrote on Canadian topics. The book was a modest success in 1961 but became a bestseller after it formed the basis of a successful Disney film. Although The Incredible Journey is marketed as a children's book, and in fact won the 1961 Canadian Children's Book of the Year award, Mrs Burnford has stated that it was not intended as a children's book.

She also wrote One Woman's Arctic (1973) about her two summers in Pond Inlet, Nunavut on Baffin Island. She traveled by komatik, a traditional Inuit dog sled, assisted in archaeological excavation, having to thaw the land inch by inch, ate everything offered to her, and saw the migration of the narwhals. This is a world that has experienced unlimited change, but Burnford saw the best and worst of Pond Inlet at a time gone forever.

She died of cancer in the village of Bucklers Hard in Hampshire at the age of 65.

Reviews

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow this used first edition came into my possession, and after many years I picked it up and read it. Why did I wait so long? Entertaining essays about fishing, shooting, dogs, her daughter's canary, and the moral imperative of walking learned in her Scottish childhood - each is a delight. I am embarrassed to confess that despite years as a children's librarian, I've never read The Incredible Journey - must rectify. Here's a taste:

Wet days, dry days, muddy days, blizzard days we walked; and all over Scotland the pattern was the same, particularly on Sunday, when the ranks were swelled by the heads of the households and the weekend visitors - doors opening and the walkers walking forth before the cooling memories of after-church roast beef...The purists, the weekend walkers, set forth with heads and hearts up and chests out, knobbly ash walking sticks clenched in swinging hand; the Sunday strollers, to-the-cemetery-and-back or tea-with-Aunt-Agnes, went in groups, their furled umbrellas suspended from a wrist strap over their respectable black gloves...

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely memorable collection of autobiographical essays by Scottish-born Canadian writer Sheila Burnford, better known for her bestselling fictional book "The Incredible Journey".

Beautifully written; intelligent and warmly humorous musings on a diversity of topics.

Canadian Spring - a trip with an artist friend to an isolated lakeside cabin during spring ice break-up.

Walking: Its Cause, Duration and Effect - reflections on a Scottish childhood spent largely out-of-doors.

The Peaceful Pursuit - the joys and occasional pitfalls of wild mushroom hunting.

Confessions of a Noisemaker - how to shed one's vocal inhibitions while accompanied on a solitary expedition by a patient dog and four inflatable duck decoys.

Time Out of Mind - the deceptively steep learning curve of the paleolithic flint-knapper.

Inclinations to Fish - the consideration of large bodies of water as primarily "fish containers", and the joys of a lifetime of attempting to bring those fish to shore.

Tom - a touching ode to a feral tom cat.

With Claud Beneath the Bough... - caring for a solitary canary.

Pas Devant le Chien - a sober-minded dog becomes firmly convinced that an electric heater contains a small, living inhabitant.

William - the last day of life and the death of a beloved bull terrier.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable short memoire about a woman who moved from Scotland to Ontario as a child, and her love affair with nature

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Sheila and the way she thinks and writes, her humour and wit. She was such a cool lady, I would read anything she wrote.