The Wild Silence: The Sunday Times Bestseller 2021 from the author of The Salt Path

The follow-up to the hugely successful Costa prize shortlister, The Salt Path, and the continued, powerful true story of the couple who lost everything Following the Sunday Times bestselling, prize winning book The Salt Path, Raynor Winn returns with her profoundly moving second memoir. In The Salt Path, Raynor and her husband Moth head to the windswept coastline to try to find a way through homelessness, and ultimately to find themselves. Now in The Wild Silence, they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is elusive and returning to normality is not easy. Raynor and Moth continue to face his debilitating illness, as Raynor struggles to recover trust in herself and others. Until someone who read The Salt Path makes an unbelievable offer and they find themselves living on an overused farm, tasked with revitalising the land and returning the wildlife to its hedgerows. With only their life-long love of each other and the natural world to help them, they begin to rediscover the meaning of home.

About the Author :
Since travelling the South West Coastal Path, Raynor Winn has become a regular long-distance walker and writes about nature, homelessness and wild camping. Her first book, The Salt Path, was a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the 2018 Costa Biography Award. In The Wild Silence, Raynor explores readjusting to life after homelessness. She lives in Cornwall with her husband Moth.

Review :
Heartening and comforting . . . The nature writing is beautiful and it is a thrill to read. You feel the world is a better place because Raynor and Moth are in it Raynor Winn has written a brilliant, powerful and touching account of her life before and after The Salt Path, which, like her astonishing debut, will connect with anyone who has triumphed over adversity A beautiful, luminous and magical piece of writing Written in wise, unflinching, exquisite prose, this is a different kind of journey - into the past, into grief and also into Winn's search for connection. A spiritual journey instead of a physical one, and, for me at least, an even richer one Deeply personal and spiritual in its exploration of the healing qualities of nature . . . Winn's writing transforms her surroundings and her spirits, her joy coming across clearly in her shimmering prose In this unflinching sequel to The Salt Path, nature provides solace against forebodings of mortality . . . there is a luminous conviction to the prose To follow Raynor Winn on her songline back to Cornwall is to know how it feels to walk yourself into the land you love and find peace at the end of the journey An uplifting, illuminating read Winn's soul-baring honesty and beautifully remembered, touching conversations will take your breath away Notions of home are poignantly explored . . . Her evocations of weather, landscape, the sea and her love for her partner, Moth, who has an incurable neurodegenerative condition, are wonderful Full of descriptions of dramatic landscapes that make the reader long for the great outdoors . . . an uplifting and illuminating book Heart-rending. A love letter to the natural world in all its wondrous glory . . . spellbinding The Wild Silence confirms Raynor as a natural and extremely talented writer with an incredible way with words. This book gives us all what we wanted to know at the end of The Salt Path which is what happened next. So moving, it made me cry . . . repeatedly This book promises to take you away with the same amazing descriptive and emotive writing found in The Salt Path Profoundly moving and emotionally transcendent reading Unflinching . . . Another beautifully poignant read about triumph over adversity, and adjusting to life after immense change Intimate in feel and ambitious in scope . . . Throughout it all [Winn] retains her faith in the importance of having an almost visceral connection to the land This sequel sees the pair trying unsatisfactorily to readjust to normal life before finding ways to reharness nature's healing power Moving. A must-read for anyone inspired by The Salt Path . . . another thoughtful memoir The quality of Winn's writing draws us through the story with the same emotional honesty, lyricism and warmth that epitomises The Salt Path A poignant and passionate, grounded yet uplifting journey of discovery in which we learn what can be found after all seems lost, The Wild Silence is a testament to the transformative power of nature and the fresh hope it nurtures within ourselves Picks up the story where Winn's astonishing The Salt Path left off Wise, unflinching, exquisite prose Luminous and touching Raynor Winn's story has become the stuff of legend Writing with such honesty is a trademark of [Winn's] style '9 new books to read this September' Powerful Beautiful 'Country Life Book of the Week' Down to earth yet astonishing . . . touching