Thin Places by Kerri Ni Dochartaigh
A breathtaking mix of memoir, nature writing and history: this is Kerri ni Dochartaigh's story of a wild Ireland, an invisible border, an old conflict and the healing power of the natural world
A remarkable piece of writingI don't think I've ever read a book as open-hearted as this. It resists easy pieties of nature as a healing force, but nevertheless charts a recovery which could never have been achieved without landscape, wild creatures and "thin places". It is also flocked with luminous details (moths, birds, feathers, skulls, moving water). Kerri's voice is utterly her own, rich and strange. I've folded down the corners of many pages, marking sentences and moments that glitter out at me. Wow -- ROBERT MACFARLANE
Dochartaigh takes great solace in nature, and much of the book is a meditation on the beautiful landscapes and flora and fauna that surround her . . . Passionate, moving and beautifully written, this is a remarkable account of trauma and ways to acknowledge and overcome it * * Sunday Times * *
What was Kerri ní Dochartaigh's burden as a child - to exist in "the gaps between" the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland - has become her gift as a writer. She is sensitive to the legacies of loss and trauma and highly attuned to the gifts of the natural world and the possibilities of place. This is a special, beautiful, many-faceted book -- AMY LIPTROT
Powerful, unflinching . . . Part hymn to nature, part Troubles memoir . . . Vividly descriptive . . . Thin Places is at heart a survivor's story located in the real and brutally Darwinian world of lived experience * * Guardian, Book of the Day * *
Fabulous . . . Piercingly honest, movingly heartfelt. There is so much soul and knowledge and compassion, it gave me shivers -- ELIF SHAFAK * * Guardian, Best Books of the Year * *
An eloquent, moving work of politics, geography and the self. Full of wisdom and deeply engaging -- SINÉAD GLEESON
The power of place to heal trauma makes for a beautiful read . . . It contains moments of great beauty . . . It is heady, bright and difficult to pin down. It is also redemptive. The Irish word for hope, we are told, is dòchas or dòigh, which holds, within its roots, glimmers of dóighiúil, the word for giving. Ní Dochartaigh takes that hope and gives it to us all * * Big Issue * *
A beautiful and harrowing book about trauma, the potential to heal and the subtle magic of the wild. Kerri ní Dochartaigh offers us a fragile kind of redemption, full of truth and solace -- KATHERINE MAY
Ní Dochartaigh's delight in wild things weaves a thread of light through her childhood, adulthood and the book itself . . . Acutely personal . . . Wonderfully evocative . . . This heartfelt memoir, with its message on the saving grace of nature, may speak to an even wider audience than it first imagined * * Daily Mail * *
A powerful, bracing memoir that asks what happens when a child grows up in a city that isn't safe . . . This is a book that will make you see the world differently * * Irish Times * *
Dochartaigh takes great solace in nature, and much of the book is a meditation on the beautiful landscapes and flora and fauna that surround her . . . Passionate, moving and beautifully written, this is a remarkable account of trauma and ways to acknowledge and overcome it * * Sunday Times * *
What was Kerri ní Dochartaigh's burden as a child - to exist in "the gaps between" the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland - has become her gift as a writer. She is sensitive to the legacies of loss and trauma and highly attuned to the gifts of the natural world and the possibilities of place. This is a special, beautiful, many-faceted book -- AMY LIPTROT
Powerful, unflinching . . . Part hymn to nature, part Troubles memoir . . . Vividly descriptive . . . Thin Places is at heart a survivor's story located in the real and brutally Darwinian world of lived experience * * Guardian, Book of the Day * *
Fabulous . . . Piercingly honest, movingly heartfelt. There is so much soul and knowledge and compassion, it gave me shivers -- ELIF SHAFAK * * Guardian, Best Books of the Year * *
An eloquent, moving work of politics, geography and the self. Full of wisdom and deeply engaging -- SINÉAD GLEESON
The power of place to heal trauma makes for a beautiful read . . . It contains moments of great beauty . . . It is heady, bright and difficult to pin down. It is also redemptive. The Irish word for hope, we are told, is dòchas or dòigh, which holds, within its roots, glimmers of dóighiúil, the word for giving. Ní Dochartaigh takes that hope and gives it to us all * * Big Issue * *
A beautiful and harrowing book about trauma, the potential to heal and the subtle magic of the wild. Kerri ní Dochartaigh offers us a fragile kind of redemption, full of truth and solace -- KATHERINE MAY
Ní Dochartaigh's delight in wild things weaves a thread of light through her childhood, adulthood and the book itself . . . Acutely personal . . . Wonderfully evocative . . . This heartfelt memoir, with its message on the saving grace of nature, may speak to an even wider audience than it first imagined * * Daily Mail * *
A powerful, bracing memoir that asks what happens when a child grows up in a city that isn't safe . . . This is a book that will make you see the world differently * * Irish Times * *
Kerri ní Dochartaigh is the author of Thin Places which was highly commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021. She has written for the Guardian, the Irish Times, the BBC, Winter Papers, and others. She lives in an old railway cottage in the heart of Ireland with her family.
@kerri_ni | @kerrinidochartaigh
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781786899637 |
| ISBN 10 | 1786899639 |
| Title | Thin Places |
| Author | Kerri Ni Dochartaigh |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Canongate Books |
| Year published | 2021-01-28 |
| Number of pages | 272 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing 2021 (UK) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |