Gavin Maxwell, author of Ring of Bright Water, was, in the words of The Times, a man of action who writes like a poet. Aristocrat, social renegade, wartime secret agent, shark-hunter, adventurer, racing driver, traveller, naturalist, poet and painter, Maxwell was also one of the most popular authors of wildlife books in the 20th century. It was the explorer Wilfred Thesiger who introduced Maxwell to otters when together they explored the Tigris Marshes of Iraq in 1956. His subsequent classic account of life with otters at his remote Highlands home brought him worldwide fame. This is a biography.