Literary Collections - Subjects & Themes - Animals & Nature

When the Sky Falls
Larger View
Buy Online Find Locally

When the Sky Falls: A Human History of Shooting Stars

Author Jade Angeles Fitton

A global cultural history of shooting stars spanning from the prehistoric to the present day, and exploring beliefs, superstitions, and the relationship between humanity and meteors throughout time.

Critically acclaimed author, Jade Angeles Fitton, recounts this story through compelling and literary text certain to captivate the minds of each and every reader.

Spanning the prehistoric to the present-day, this book is a concise history of shooting stars, accompanied throughout by beautiful illustrations inspired by medieval artworks.

About The Author

Jade Angeles Fitton is an author, journalist, and poet with a special interest in nature writing, cultural history, and folklore. Her critically acclaimed debut, Hermit: A Memoir of Finding Freedom in a Wild Place (Hutchinson Heinemann), was published in 2023, and her other writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, The Spectator, Vogue, The New Statesman, and many more. She lives in rural Devon.

  • Publish Date: September 08, 2026
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Category: Literary Collections - Subjects & Themes - Animals & Nature
  • Publisher: Batsford
  • Trim Size: 5-1/3 x 8-1/2
  • Pages: 224
  • US Price: $22.50
  • CDN Price: $29.95
  • ISBN: 978-1-83733-065-2
Buy Online Find Locally
Back To Top

Reviews

"An incredible collection of the deeply universal yet deeply personal experience of witnessing a shooting star. A testament to the never-ending creativity and individuality of the human imagination as it grapples with the great unknown." — Ben Edge, author of Folklore Rising

"A sparkling, millennia-spanning constellation of vignettes about the myriad ways humans have interpreted these heavenly messengers. When the Sky Falls confirms Jade Angeles Fitton as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary non-fiction." — Stu Hennigan

"A scintillating journey exploring how celestial bodies in transit have shaped ancient belief, folklore and culture across continents and centuries." — Tom Vowler

"When the Sky Falls is a luminous galactic travelogue - slender, elegant, and rich - carrying the reader through myth, history, and human longing with the lightest of touches and the deepest of insight {...} It is a book to read greedily, then return to endlessly, leaving you with the thrilling sense that when you reach the final page, your journey has only just begun." — Joe Gibson

"...a bright star of a book." — Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean

"A rich and elegantly written miscellany, at once expansive across human history whilst reminding us of the fleeting fragility of our own existence, mirrored in the falling stars we wish upon." — Tiffany Francis-Baker

"...a book of wonder and astonishment." — Anna Selby

"A glittering tapestry of astral stories.... An examination of the fact that sometimes, truth is more wondrous than fiction." — Tom Allan

"Non-fiction written with a poet’s pen, this is a book for every reader – dreamer, academic and storyteller alike." — Jodie Rhian Matthews

"A burst of brilliance. I learned so much from this beautiful book of stardust, skyfall and celestial symbology." — Cal Flyn

"A perfect book of miracles" — Stephen Ellcock

"...made me look at the night sky in a completely different way." — Will Millard