The Electricity of Every Living Thing
From the bestselling author of Wintering
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of Wintering, Katherine May, The Electricity of Every Living Thing is a life-affirming and poignant exploration of nature, and how reconnecting to wild landscapes can create peace in our unquiet minds.
'A windswept tale, beautifully told' Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path
'A manifesto for the value of difficult people. I loved it' Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun
In August 2015, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path. She wanted to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating, and why the world felt full of inundation and expectations she can't meet. Setting her feet down on the rugged and difficult path by the sea, the answer begins to unfold.
The Electricity of Every Living Thing tells the story of the year in which Katherine comes to terms with a diagnosis which shakes her to her core. It leads to a re-evaluation of her life so far - a kinder one, which finally allows her to be different rather than simply awkward, arrogant or unfeeling. The physical and psychological journeys become inextricably entwined, and as Katherine finds her way across the untameable coast, she also finds the way to herself.
What readers are saying about The Electricity of Every Living Thing:
'Honest and sensitive'
'The astonishing sensitivity and awareness in her writing, both about the beautiful landscapes and nature around on her walks, and in relation to her family, friends and self put paid to many outdated myths about what it is like to be autistic'
'Compelling and transformative. I could not put this book down so I stayed in bed and read it in one go.'
'Katherine has a fantastic way with words, I could read her books for hours on end, they are calming and relatable.'
'Read it - you won't regret it.'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this powerfully descriptive work, a grueling hike becomes a metaphor for a woman's experience with Asperger's syndrome. At 38, May (Wintering) sets off on foot along England's 630-mile-long South West Coast Path, "a difficult, craggy and bloody-minded walking route." May's motivation: "something about the feeling that I am probably now halfway through my life; that time is running out; that it's now or never." She does the hike in stages, sometimes alone, other times with friends, and almost always with her husband, "H," and her three-and-a-half-year-old son, Bert, meeting her for dinner. May's vivid snippets of "mental suffering," domestic struggles, conflicts at school and work—all heart-wrenching testimony to her and her family's strength—are interwoven with descriptions of the trail as she seeks in nature the solace she needs to deal with the world. Her writing is sharp as she navigates the "self-flagellating zig-zagging" of the trail and her life: "I am a testament to the confabulatory powers of the human brain. I have made a whole, gleaming, normal person out of jagged shards of a broken one." Candid, rough, and uplifting, this moving account shines.
