The Instant by Amy Liptrot

3.5 out of 5 stars

Stepping outside her comfort zone of a quiet life on the island of Orkney and heading to Berlin, Amy Liptrot is in search of new experiences and literary inspiration and also for love. Once there she rents a small bedroom in a loft and immerses herself in city life.

The process of trying to find love and companionship is much more complex nowadays, dating apps give a glimpse into the digital shadows that people leave online. But she is there for the natural world too, following the cycles of the moon in each of the short chapters of the book as well as learning how to spot the goshawks that inhabit the city. She also spends hours out at night and very early in the morning searching for the racoons that live there too.

But this is a brief memoir about love too. She finds a man over there and they fall for each other in an intense way. Her future is changing in ways that she is not sure of, but that feeling of losing control is almost addictive.

This is so very different to her previous award-winning book, The Outrun. That was her story of turning back from alcohol addiction and using the natural world as a crutch to help her through the difficult parts. This is very different. To begin with, there is much more sex in here than you would normally find in a book located in the natural history section of your bookshop, but she still has that magical way of writing that her debut had.

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3 Comments

  1. Liz Dexter

    I’m struggling to think of a book located in the natural history section of my bookshop that has ANY sex in it! Hm, quite a different follow-up but fair enough, I suppose!

  2. winstonsdad

    Yes I wondered after reading it if it really is nature writing but I enjoyed it

    • Paul

      It is, but also isn’t. More of a memoir with nature included

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