Delia Owens, author of the best-selling Where the Crawdads Sing, began her career writing riveting real-life adventure and wildlife tales with her husband, Mark Owens. Collected in a single volume for the first time, these three odysseys show how the Owenses’ “ingenuity, courage, and accomplishment are beyond exaggeration.” (People) Carrying little more than a change of clothes and a pair of binoculars, two young Americans, Delia and Mark Owens, caught a plane to Africa, bought a third-hand Land Rover, and drove deep into the Kalahari Desert. In this vast wilderness they met animals that had never seen humans before, and leopards, giraffes, and brown hyenas were regular visitors to their camp, all chronicled in Cry of the Kalahari. But the Kalahari is not Eden, and Mark and Delia were continually threatened by wildfires, drought, violent storms, and sometimes by the animals they studied and loved. They set off on another African odyssey in search of a new wilderness in The Eye of the Elephant. They land in a remote valley of Zambia, where the hippos swam in the river just below their tents, lions stalked the bush, and elephants wandered into camp to eat marula fruits. The peace, though, was soon shattered with gunfire, and Delia and Mark were inexorably drawn into a high-stakes struggle to save the wildlife. With Secrets of the Savanna, Delia and Mark tell the dramatic story of their last years in Africa, fighting to save elephants, villagers, and—in the end—themselves. The award-winning zoologists and pioneering conservationists describe their work in the remote and ruggedly beautiful Luangwa Valley, in northeastern Zambia.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE—The #1 New York Times bestselling worldwide sensation with more than 18 million copies sold, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.” For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

"This is the story of the Owens' travel and life in the Kalahari Desert, [where] they met and studied unique animals and were confronted with danger from drought, fire, storms, and the animals they loved"--Amazon.com.

The authors spent 23 years in the Zambian wilderness where they started a unique program to lift the villagers out of poverty and allow the wildlife populations to recover from poaching. After more than two decades of work, they were driven out of the country by poachers and ivory smugglers.

An “exciting” true account of battling the elephant poachers of Zambia by the author of Where the Crawdads Sing and her fellow biologist (The Boston Globe). Intelligent, majestic, and loyal, with lifespans matching our own, elephants are among the greatest of the wonders gracing the African wilds. Yet, in the 1970s and 1980s, about a thousand of these captivating creatures were slaughtered in Zambia each year, killed for their valuable ivory tusks. When biologists Mark and Delia Owens, residing in Africa to study lions, found themselves in the middle of a poaching fray, they took the only side they morally could: that of the elephants. From the authors of Secrets of the Savanna, The Eye of the Elephant is “part adventure story, part wildlife tale,” recounting the Owens’s struggle to save these innocent animals from decimation, a journey not only to supply the natives with ways of supporting their villages, but also to cultivate support around the globe for the protection of elephants (The Boston Globe). Filled with daring exploits among disgruntled hunters, arduous labor on the African plains, and vivid depictions of various wildlife, this remarkable tale is at once an adventure story, a travelogue, a preservationist call to action, and a fascinating examination of both human and animal nature.

A beautiful, deluxe edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller—with over 15 million copies sold—that will make the perfect holiday gift or treat for yourself. A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick A Business Insider Defining Book of the Decade “I can't even express how much I love this book! I didn't want this story to end!”—Reese Witherspoon At once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder, Where the Crawdads Sing has touched the hearts of millions of readers around the world, and this beautiful deluxe edition features: • new, personal note from the author • updated linen jacket with foil • foil-stamped case with cloth spine • four-color endpapers • premium interior stock • four-color map and newly colored interior illustrations For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Through Kya's story, Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Eighty-one real-life revelations behind some of history's greatest mysteries.

The sequel to Cry of the Kalahari, this book takes up where the first began, with the Owenses returning to the Kalahari to continue their study of elephants. After deportation because of their open criticism of the government's soft stance on wildlife conservation, they find their way back to their research station to discover the remains of hundreds of poached elephants. Thus they begin a long struggle to raise consciousness about preservation among the officials, who live off black market ivory, and the villagers, who depend on elephant meat for food. Mark's obsession with catching the poachers leads to vicious confrontations and to intense strain in his relationship with Delia.

German-born artist Vic Guhrs came to Africa at the age of twenty-two to fulfil his boyhood dream of a life in wild places among wild animals. He lived for twenty-five years in an isolated bush camp in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia and knows that, despite its paradoxes and its mysteries, he can never leave Africa. The trouble with Africa, he says, is that once it is in your blood, like malaria, it is almost impossible to get rid of. And the trouble with Africa is also the trouble with those of us who settle here: as long as we insist on judging it from a Western perspective, we will be the outsiders - we will be forever baffled by it. The complexities of African attitudes that seem to confound us are perhaps not so complex after all; it is their very simplicity that we fail to understand. On the road to our civilised enlightenment have we lost the ability to see life in its most fundamental essence?

An account of the author's journey through Africa recounts his experiences as an observer during a big-game safari hunt, with local villagers, and in caves and overhangs, where he examined ancient cave paintings. (Travel)