The Wild Silence

My heart is so full.

The Salt Path was a phenomenal read, full of pain, wilderness and raw honesty. This sequel goes deeper, rather than wider. Like everyone I know who read Raynor’s first book, I was left asking… but what happens next? The Salt Path left Raynor and Moth at the end of the South West Coastal Path, still broke, stumbling into a flat rented to them by a kind stranger, with Moth headed to university but also navigating the inevitably increasingly loss that an incurable brain disease brings along for the ride. You’ll be pleased to hear - The Wild Silence picks up exactly where we left off.

Winn’s truly spectacular skill as a writer really comes into it’s own in this book, as she gently brings light to her most vulnerable memories and guides her inner child to the surface. Winn faces grief unforeseen at the deathbed of her mother, and her biggest self saboteurs come out to play in her childhood farm. She details the writing of her first book, and the seasons passing as she hides away, fearful of neighbours, trusting others, letting them in. This book delves much deeper into personal connections, trauma and relearning than I’d expected and it’s a really touching development to read. Winn also points to climate change and environmental destruction without letting it overpower the narrative, simply observing the rewilding of her surroundings and her husband in unity.

Raynor writes about her husband in expansive, wholehearted prose that befits timeless romance and deep understanding of another person’s soul. Her account of their first camping trip together is astounding, and one of my favourite parts of the book.

We gazed out between our hands, speechless. As fear began to subside we were overwhlemed by the swirling maelstrom of elements, until we felt as if we were part of it. Lost and dispersed in the unending cycle of water, earth and air.

Without giving away too much, there is nature writing and vast descriptions to lose yourself in, just as there were in the beginnng - but this time there is a real sense of grounding in the earth as the wild wind whips overhead. Rolling apples in autumn, waiting on a log for a rare moth to transform, fingers that remember how to fix things, one more spectacular camping trip… It’s all here, its emotional and healing and so so courageous. I can’t give this book (these two books) enough praise, and I really hope that there will be a third installment.