The story of W.H. Davies is one of the most remarkable in twentieth century letters. Born in lowly circumstances in Newport, he moved to America where he lived as a hobo - a life he recorded in ’Autobiography of a Supertramp’. During this period he lost a leg falling from a train and, manual work denied to him, Davies re-cast himself as a writer. Lawrence Normand has written a fascinating life of Davies the nature poet and seeker of social justice, and adds to our knowledge of the society in which he created. The first book on Davies in many years, and the first the deal with the pivotal volume, ’Young Emma’.