Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity and home

(Paperback, Main)

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2022Reflecting on family, identity and nature, belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy.Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson's artwork and photography throughout, it explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are. It is a book about how we are held in thrall to elements of our past. It speaks to the importance of attention and reflection, and will encourage us all to look and observe and ask questions of ourselves.

Reviews

'Outstanding' - ROBERT MACFARLANE

'A beautifully written meditation on rural surroundings and her place within them' - Sunday Times

'Amanda Thomson's new book manages to carve out a distinctive niche for itself . . . This is a passionate book and infused with a sense of rootedness' - STUART KELLY

'In recent years rural landscapes have turned into battlegrounds, and nature writing has become increasingly polemical. Belonging is a quiet book of questions in a genre full of answers, but it is all the more powerful and beautiful for this' - PATRICK GALBRAITH

'Deservedly shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize; a thoughtful blend of memoir, family history, artistic scrapbook and nature journal in a compelling collage. [ . . . ] There's also an all-encompassing belief in the importance of listening, looking and learning from the world around us' - Observer

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Author Bio

Amanda Thomson is a Scottish writer and visual artist, and a lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art. Her first book, A Scots Dictionary of Nature, was published in 2018. She has spoken at many book festivals and had her work published in Antlers of Water, Willowherb Review, The Wild Isles,Gifts of Gravity and Light and the Guardian. She lives and works in Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands and Glasgow.@passingplace | passingplace.com