The Place of Tides

The Place of TidesAuthor: James Rebanks Norway Published on 3 July 2025 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom. Paperback 304 pages 128 x 197 x 21 226g WATERSTONES NON FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTHTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLEREnchanting TelegraphMiraculous Isabella TreeExquisite FTFrom the No. 1 bestselling author of The Shepherd's Life, an unforgettable story of friendship, redemption and a life changing voyage of discovery on a remote Norwegian islandHow far do you

Author: James Rebanks

Norway

Published on 3 July 2025 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 304 pages
128 x 197 x 21 | 226g

WATERSTONES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTHTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘Enchanting’ Telegraph‘Miraculous’ Isabella Tree‘Exquisite’ FTFrom the No.1 bestselling author of The Shepherd's Life, an unforgettable story of friendship, redemption and a life-changing voyage of discovery on a remote Norwegian islandHow 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.

*Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Award*