Martin Windrow is a bit of a legend around these parts. He is the longest serving member of the team and has pretty much single-handedly commissioned the Men-at-Arms series for the best part of 500 titles. Martin still works on the MAA and Elite series - though in a freelance basis now. Not simply content with commissioning our books, Martin has written a couple too - and is particularly well known for his books on the French Foreign Legion. As well as authoring Osprey series titles Martin has written a couple of major history titles, including the brilliant Our Friends Beneath the Sands: The Foreign Legion in France's Colonial Conquests 1870-1935 and The Last Valley: Dien Bein Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam.

But over the last year or so Martin has been working on something different, something a little bit special. And it is out today.

51AkBXkS+dL._

The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar: Life With a Lovable Tawny Owl is the story of Martin's life with Mumble the Tawny Owl he first adopted as an owlet. It tells the tale of raising her from a fledgling, through adolescence and into her prime years, from living together (in secret) in his London flat to the more roomy Sussex Village cottage.

You can read a short extract from the book here.

It really is a lovely tale, which tugs (quite hard) on the heartstrings (seriously... the Osprey office was devastated after reading the extract above... it was not a pretty sight!)

So, although we don't often do this for other publishers...and I don't think we have ever done it for a non-military history book - The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar is out today - we can wholeheartedly recommend you pick up a copy!