Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers is a 1927 novel by English writer Henry Williamson, first published by G.P.

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.

It begins shortly before the birth of Tarka in an otter holt on the River Torridge, near the Rolle Canal aqueduct on the Beam estate.

Throughout the book Williamson juxtaposes Tarka with his main enemy, the local otter hunt, and particularly the pied hound Deadlock, "the truest marking-hound in the country of the Two Rivers" (p. 23).

[3] Locations featured in the book include Braunton Burrows, the clay pits at Marland, Morte Point, Hoar Oak Water and the Chains.

[4] His writing is also characterised by a lack of sentimentality about the animals it describes; Williamson is generally careful to avoid anthropomorphising them and rarely attempts to present any but their most basic or instinctual mental processes.

American writer Rachel Carson once wrote that Williamson's work had "deeply influenced" her and said that Tarka the Otter and Salar the Salmon would be two of three books she might take to a desert island.

[11] Others to whom the book was significant included the nature writers Kenneth Allsop[12] and Denys Watkins-Pitchford, who described it as "the greatest animal story ever written".