Staff Pick
There are few places in Europe more remote than the Orkney Islands. Located off the north coast of Scotland, they are closer to Norway than to London. While growing up in such an isolated location, Amy Liptrot longed to escape to a more cosmopolitan locale. But her life began to spin out of control when the pressures of urban life drove her to excessive drinking. Returning to the Orkney Islands, she was finally able to find solace and balance in her life by connecting to nature and the extreme landscape. The Outrun is a bold, beautiful account of the struggles we all feel to be alive and relevant in the 21st century. Recommended By Shawn D., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
When Amy Liptrot returns to Orkney after more than a decade away, she is drawn back to the Outrun on the sheep farm where she grew up. Approaching the land that was once home, memories of her childhood merge with the recent events that have set her on this journey.
Amy was shaped by the cycle of the seasons, birth and death on the farm, and her father's mental illness, which were as much a part of her childhood as the wild, carefree existence on Orkney. But as she grew up, she longed to leave this remote life. She moved to London and found herself in a hedonistic cycle. Unable to control her drinking, alcohol gradually took over. Now thirty, she finds herself washed up back home on Orkney, standing unstable at the cliff edge, trying to come to terms with what happened to her in London.
Spending early mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, the days tracking Orkney's wildlife--puffins nesting on sea stacks, arctic terns swooping close enough to feel their wings--and nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy slowly makes the journey toward recovery from addiction.
The Outrun is a beautiful, inspiring book about living on the edge, about the pull between island and city, and about the ability of the sea, the land, the wind, and the moon to restore life and renew hope.
A Guardian Best Nonfiction Book of 2016 Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller New Statesman Book of the Year