The Place of Tides

(Hardback)

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A story of friendship, history and redemption on a remote Norwegian island We are all in need of lights to follow. One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich, but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on. Back at home, Rebanks couldn't stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly - and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly- her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island. This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter, building little wooden huts that will protect the ducks come spring; to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for the woman to gather, like feathered gold. Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not at all what he had previously thought. As the weeks pass, what began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.

Reviews

- - Praise for James Rebanks -- -
Rebanks speaks with blunt, unmatched authority. He is a fine writer with descriptive power and a gift for characterisation -- Caroline Fraser * New York Review of Books *
James Rebanks writes with his heart, and his heart is in the right place. We should listen to him -- Jamie Blackett * Telegraph *
James Rebanks combines the descriptive powers of a great novelist with the pragmatic wisdom of a farmer who has watched his world transform -- Ed Caesar
Lyrical, evocative, generous ... Thank the gods of agriculture for James Rebanks -- Kristin Kimball * The New York Times *
Rebanks shows wit, has a succinct imaginative touch, and makes nonsense of conventional ideas of intelligence -- David Craig * Guardian *
James Rebanks has a sharp eye and a lyrical heart * Daily Mail *
James Rebankss story of his familys farm is just about perfect. It belongs with the finest writing of its kind. -- Wendell Berry
One of the most captivating memoirs of recent years Written with the passionate clarity of a poet and the shrewd good sense of an honest man Like the best books, it gives you hope and new energy * Guardian *
It's bloody marvellous -- Helen Macdonald
A remarkable achievement ... part calendar, part memoir, part encomium for fell-farming a deceptively powerful prose style, a depth of knowledge and a sense of moral integrity feels like a draught of pure revivifying Lakeland air * FInancial Times *
A masterpiece ... a poetic, practical, raw and almost miraculously detailed picture of this ancient way of life struggling to survive and to be reborn -- Melvyn Bragg
A brilliant, beautiful book ... Eloquent, persuasive and electric with the urgency that comes out of love * The Sunday Times *

Author Bio

James Rebanks is a shepherd based in the Lake District. His first book, The Shepherd's Life, won The Lakeland Book of the Year 2015 and was shortlisted for both The Wainwright Prize and the Ondaatje Prize. Also known as the Herdwick Shepherd, his Twitter account of daily life in the Lakes has a strong international following. His family have lived and farmed in the Lake District for six hundred years.