Chasing the Phantom

The lost words of war poet Nowell Oxland

By: Nowell Oxland, Zoe Gilbert (Commentaries by), Stephen Cooper (Commentaries by)

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Paperback | 17 September 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
136 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 0.94

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Lieutenant Nowell Oxland, killed at Gallipoli in 1915 aged just 24, wrote poems and stories deeply rooted in place. He is unknown bar for one poem Farewell, published anonymously in The Times nine days after his death. A native of Cumberland, he wrote it on the way to war, his heart longing for home:

'There's a pool for which I'm grieving,

Near the water-ouzel's home....

And the curlews faintly crying,

'Mid the wastes of Cumberland.'

Chasing the Phantom shares Oxland's unpublished poems and stories, which range from the darkly gothic and supernatural to the comic. In the foreword, nature writer John Lewis-Stempel describes them as work full of promise and places Nowell Oxland firmly as an example of the 'lost generation'. His friend Amy Hawthorn published a small private edition of Nowell's work and a sole version and a few transcribed manuscripts in her hand survive.

In A Green Field Far Away: Nowell Oxland, Stephen Cooper follows Oxland's early life in Alston Moor, to Durham school years and University at Oxford. How he excelled on the rugby field, enlisted in the Border Regiment and finally died at Gallipoli.

In Chasing Amy, Zoe Gilbert charts the journey of finding traces of Amy Hawthorn's life, her and Oxland's connections through place to Alston Moor and the Lake District, their friendship and the mystery of what happened to his lost work.

Robert Macfarlane describes Chasing the Phantom as ' important chapter to the modern history of Cumbrian place-writing.'

Industry Reviews

'Chasing the Phantom 'is a moving, valuable project of rescue and salvage, which re-surfaces an early twentieth-century Cumbrian writer who has otherwise been largely lost to all but the archive. Zoe Gilbert and Stephen Cooper have, in this labour of love, helped materialise this 'phantom' of an author for the twenty-first century, and in so doing added an important chapter to the modern history of Cumbrian place-writing.'

Robert Macfarlane, nature writer

'Every aspect of Nowell Oxland's life, along with that of his generation, was marvellous in its promise. This book is testament to that promise.'

John Lewis-Stempel, farmer, historian and nature writer

'How wonderful to bring to today's audience the work of such a fascinating Cumbrian writer. Oxland's love and understanding of the northern hills and people shines through.'

Brian Groom, author of Northerners and Made in Manchester

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Chasing the Phantom

The lost words of war poet Nowell Oxland

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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4th Edition

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