Book Review: The Place of Tides

The Place of Tides
By James Rebanks
Review by Harriet

I was both soothed and delighted to spend ten engrossing weeks on the remote Vega archipelago with Rebanks and master duck woman Anna, as they practice the seasonal patterns and traditions that sustain the Islanders’ symbiotic relationship with the local Eider duck population. Rebanks makes quiet communion with ancient ways feel electrifying, and his beautifully evocative language, and acute powers of observation make for vivid and transporting reading.

While this can be read as a powerful environmental treatise, what I found most illuminating was the way it quietly reveals that custodianship of nature is as much about humans’ relationship with each other, as it is the world around us.

And now, off to read everything James Rebanks has ever written!

For anyone who loves the work of Robert MacFarlane, or (like me) is impatiently waiting to return to Norway for the final instalment of Lars Mytting’s Sister Bells trilogy.