Tarka the Otter

Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers is a novel by the English writer Henry Williamson written between June 1923 and February 1927. Williamson privately published an edition limited to 100 copies in August 1927, and the first ordinary edition was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons with an introduction by Sir John Fortescue in October that year. The book won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927, and has never been out of print.

The novel describes the life of an otter, along with a detailed observation of its habitat in the country of the River Taw and River Torridge in north Devon (the "Two Rivers"); the name "Tarka" is said by Williamson to mean "Wandering as Water" (p. 10). Although not written for children, the book soon became popular with young readers, and also influenced literary figures as diverse as Ted Hughes and Rachel Carson.