Thunderstone: A True Story of Losing One Home and Discovering Another

‘It was believed lightning would not strike a house that held a thunderstone. And so these fossils were placed on top of clocks, under floorboards, over stable doors… But there are some storms that thunderstones cannot prevent.’  In the wake of a traumatic lockdown, Nancy Campbell buys an old caravan and drives it into a strip of neglected woodland between a canal and railway. It is the first home she has ever owned. It will not move again.   As summer begins, Nancy embraces the challenge of how to live well in a space in which possessions and emotions often threaten to tumble. She masters the van’s mysterious mechanics, but as empty passenger trains rumble past inches from the windows, rain and grief threaten to flood in.  Yet soon, Nancy’s encounters with the community of boaters moored nearby, and their lessons in survival off-grid, prove fundamental. The wasteland burgeons into a place of wild beauty, as Nancy works to clear industrial junk and create a forest garden. And as illness and uncertainty loom once more, it is these unconventional relationships, this anchored van, that will bring her solace and hope.   An intimate journal across the span of a defining summer, Thunderstone is a celebration of transformation; an invitation to approach life with imagination and to embrace change bravely. 

About the Author :
Nancy Campbell received the Royal Geographical Society Ness Award in 2020 for a decade-long creative response to the polar environment, which began during a winter as Artist in Residence at the most northern museum in the world on Upernavik in Greenland. Her books include Fifty Words for Snow, a Waterstones Book of the Month, The Library of Ice: Readings in a Cold Climate, and the poetry collection Disko Bay. She was appointed Canal Laureate in 2018, writing poems for installation across the UK waterways from London Docklands to the River Severn. Her memoir Thunderstone: Finding Shelter from the Storm describes making a home in an old Buccaneer caravan between the River Thames and the Oxford Canal, where she still lives.

Review :
‘A memoir of great honesty and clarity, intimacy and subtlety . . . It asks profound questions about how to live through the storms of life with authenticity.’ Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being ‘A courageous, compassionate, uncanny chronicle of life and loss on the fringes. Striking in its candour, brilliant in its breadth, often very funny.’ Dan Richards, author of Outpost ‘Here is a writer who knows better than most of us how to live.’ Helen Jukes, author of A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings ‘The most thoughtful and soothing book I’ve read this year.’ Daily Mail ‘A beautiful and often very funny account of hope and healing in the face of illness and uncertainty.’ TLS‘ 'How to find beauty and wonder even in the most trying of circumstances’ The Scotsman ‘An uplifting, heart-filled read full of hope and love.’ Lulah Ellender, author of Grounding