The Wild Silence - by Raynor Winn (Paperback)

About the Book

"The incredible follow-up to the international bestseller The Salt Path, a story of finding your way back home. Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth. After walking 630 homeless miles along The Salt Path, living on the windswept and wild English coastline; the cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home. Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but together on the wild coastal path, with their feet firmly rooted outdoors, they discover that anything is possible. Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything. A chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills; rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes their saving grace and their new path to follow. The Wild Silence is a story of hope triumphing over despair, of lifelong love prevailing over everything. It is a luminous account of the human spirit's connection to nature, and how vital it is for us all"--

Book Synopsis

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Heartfelt and heartening ... a full-throated paean to the fundamental importance of nature in all its glory, fury and impermanence." --Wall Street Journal

The incredible follow-up to the international bestseller The Salt Path, a story of finding your way back home.

Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth. After walking 630 homeless miles along The Salt Path, living on the windswept and wild English coastline; the cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home. Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but together on the wild coastal path, with their feet firmly rooted outdoors, they discover that anything is possible.

Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything. A chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills; rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes their saving grace and their new path to follow. The Wild Silence is a story of hope triumphing over despair, of lifelong love prevailing over everything. It is a luminous account of the human spirit's connection to nature, and how vital it is for us all.

Review Quotes

"Moving and beautifully written. Read this lovely book." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Readers will delight in Winn's account here of falling in love with Moth. A must-read for lovers of [The Salt Path]; fans of nature writing should also check this out." --Booklist

"Winn's writing beautifully evokes the natural world, whether she is describing a doe rummaging in an orchard or her innermost conflicted feelings. This is a perfect 'what happened next' memoir that gives closure to readers of the first book, and which both fans and new readers will enjoy."
--Library Journal

"A moving follow-up to the author's 2018 memoir, The Salt Path...Winn has developed a reputation for powerful writing on the natural world. Her descriptions are highly visual, often poetic. There are passages so perfectly apt, melancholy, or achingly lovely that you want to stop and live inside the text...Winn's talent is undeniable, as is her capacity to locate the profound amid the din of modern life." --Kirkus

"A beautiful, luminous and magical piece of writing." --Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

"A thrill to read. The nature writing is beautiful . . . heartening and comforting. You feel the world is a better place." --The Times (UK)

"Extraordinary: wise, unflinching, exquisite. Profound." --Observer

About the Author

Since travelling the South West Coastal Path, Raynor Winn has become a regular long-distance walker and writes about nature, homelessness and wild camping. Her first book, The Salt Path, was a Sunday Times bestseller, NPR Concierge Best Book of 2019, and shortlisted for the 2018 Costa Award. She lives in Cornwall with her husband Moth.