The Shepherd's Life
memoir by James Rebanks
The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District is an autobiographical book by James Rebanks, a sheep farmer from Matterdale, Cumbria, England, published by Allen Lane in 2015.
Rebanks writes that he was moved and inspired by another book with almost the same title, A Shepherd's Life by W.H. Hudson, who wrote about sheep-farming in Wiltshire in the early years of the 20th century.
Rebanks describes the traditional way of life of shepherds on the Cumbrian fells and vales, and his determination to continue to farm where generations of his forebears had done. After an unsuccessful school education, he studied for A levels in evening classes and graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford University, with a double first in history before returning to farming.
Other editions
The book appeared in the United States as The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape (Flatiron books, ISBN 978-1250060242). There is also a large print edition, with the same title, by Thorndike Press ISBN 978-1410484550. A German translation Mein Leben als Schäfer was published in 2016 (Bertelsmann: ISBN 978-3570102916)
Critical reception
Rebanks' book was well-received and was the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week in April 2015.
Theatrical adaptation
The book was adapted for the stage by Chris Monks and produced at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, in March 2016. The theatrical production included life-sized puppet sheepdogs and sheep, with James being played by Kieran Hill.
References
External links
Rebanks, James (21 March 2015).
“The Shepherd's Life” enters the record as memoir by James Rebanks. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Shepherd's, Life and memoir can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Shepherd's Life” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Shepherd's, Life and memoir provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q43236399. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015 and 2016.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Shepherd's Life”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Shepherd's Life primary sources, The Shepherd's Life archive and Shepherd's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Shepherd's Life”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Shepherd's Life” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.