About

From the author of the phenomenal bestseller, The Shepherd's Life, and the Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year, English Pastoral, comes an unforgettable story of friendship, redemption and a life-changing voyage of discovery on a remote Norwegian island.

The Place of Tides was a favourite of many members of the team here at Mr B's when it was released in hardback last year, and we are delighted to have the chance to host James for this very special event.

James will be in conversation with Noreen Masud, author of the Women's Prize Shortlisted memoir, A Flat Place, a huge Mr B's team favourite.

About the book:

How far do you have to go to find yourself?

One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich, but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on.

Back at home, Rebanks couldn't stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly – and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly: her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island.

This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter, to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold.

Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not what he had previously thought. What began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.

'Humane, beautifully paced, gentle, and strangely compelling, The Place of Tides feels like, not only a modern classic, but one we very much need right now' George Saunders

'James Rebanks has done a miraculous thing. A profound, transformative, uplifting story' Isabella Tree

'An extraordinary story, gently told. This was just the book I needed' Nigel Slater

'A charismatic portrait of fidelity and the true meaning of home.' Nick Offerman

Tickets

Book & Ticket £15.00
Standard Ticket £8.00
Student Ticket £7.00