‘Fantastic . . . A cross between Derek Raymond and Raymond Queneau . . . It can be enjoyed at the level of a thriller, and yet it does all these other fascinating things . . . It’s such a good book.’ Andy Miller BACKLISTED PODCAST

‘The most satisfying books in crime as in any area of literature tend to be those that do not fit easily into any category, that confound expectations. Tony White’s The Fountain in the Forest contains some of the best police procedural writing I have encountered – gritty, dense with detail, obsessively forensic – and on the level of a detective story it is entirely satisfying. That it also works as an experimental novel of the OULIPO school, and as a work of political and social commentary gives it a denseness and what I can only call composure that few novels in any genre can hope to emulate.’ Nina Allan

22–30 June 2019 was Swift Awareness Week in the UK. Swifts are migratory birds that return to the UK – as to other European countries – each summer, but their numbers are in dramatic decline.

In 2018, Britain & Ireland were the first countries in the world to dedicate a national week in support of Swifts . . . These events aim to raise awareness of Swifts and bring a focus to their plight, and of course provide information about how to help them. The Swift is one of the few endangered species that individuals really can help in their own property and there are many groups across the country working hard to try to halt their dramatic decline of 50% in just 20 years.

You can also enter your own UK swift sightings as part of the RSPB’s Swift Survey.

Swifts are a recurring motif in my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest, and I somehow feel a personal attachment to these birds whenever I encounter them, whether in the UK or around the Mediterranean, in places such as the city of Split, Croatia, where thousands of them nest in the ancient stone walls of Diocletian’s Palace.

In advance of the first publication of The Fountain in the Forest in 2018, we made a short trailer that was shot on Super8 in the South of France, one of the settings used in the novel.

I remembered that while making the trailer, I’d accidentally recorded swifts swooping close overhead in Place du Frêne at the gates of the historic walled town of Vence on the Côte d’Azur in the South of France. This digital video and audio wasn’t used in the original trailer, so I’m using it now for this short paperback trailer, published to mark Swift Awareness Week 2019.

Shot on location in Place du Frêne and Avenue Colonel Meyere, 06140 Vence, Côte d’Azur, France, 17 July 2017. Video, iPhone 4S; additional audio, Edirol R-09.

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Take part in the RSPB Swift Survey by entering your own sightings

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