Ring of Bright Water

Gavin Maxwell

Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He became most famous for Ring of Bright Water (1960), which described his experiences raising otters from Iraq and West Africa on the west coast of Scotland. Ring of Bright Water sold more than two million copies, and was made into a film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in 1969. One of his otters from Iraq was of a previously unknown sub-species, which was subsequently named after Maxwell. His other books described shark hunting in the Hebrides, his childhood, and his travels in Sicily, Iraq and North Africa.