3.5 out of 5 stars
This is Raynor Winn’s follow-up book to the very successful Salt Path, the story of Moth, her husband being diagnosed with a terminal illness and them both losing absolutely everything. They set off to walk the South West Coast Path and discover the beauty of this coastline and their own natural resilience to the hardships of life.
This book covers the time before and after that book was printed and the changes that its success gave to their lives and the opportunities that they had because of it. So much so that one person who read it gave them the chance to move to a farm for reasonable rent with the promise that they would bring wildlife back to the fields and hedgerows.
I thought that this book neatly filled in the details of their lives before and after they completed the walk on the path to the publication of the book. Winn has a way with words, that makes this really easy to read. I did like this a lot, but for me, The Salt Path had the edge on this. I thought that she might have mentioned being shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize, the first and only time I have had the pleasure of meeting her and Moth. It is much more of a memoir than a nature book but that outlook on the natural world permeates throughout the book. I did think that the walk through Iceland didn’t quite fit with the rest of the book, that said I get why she included it, as it is relevant to Moth’s health.
There is no doubt that Raynor Winn is a gifted writer. Her writing is so descriptive but so calming and serene, it makes me feel the same way. Her debut book, The Salt Path was a joy to read and It is no surprise it won her a lot of awards. The Wild Silence is equally beautifully written, a great story of love, struggle and strength. A pleasure to read and cant wait for her next book.
I am looking forward to it too, Samantha.
My best friend and I read this as our book before the current one, we agreed it was a bit disjointed, we thought there was going to be more Iceland stuff, and found the bits about her mum pretty traumatic to read. We both liked the info about how she wrote the original book and what happened when it came out. My review is here https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2022/04/26/book-review-raynor-winn-the-wild-silence/ I think you’ve got her next one on your list, or already have it?
I haven’t got a copy yet, but intend to get it when it comes out