Landlines

Raynor Winn’s incredible first two books, The Salt Path and The Wild Silence set an exceptionally high bar; and I’m thrilled to report - she has delivered yet again. Is she my new favourite author? Definitely. Have I been researching tents, rucksacks and OS maps ever since I picked up landlines? Absolutely. Please note - there are spoilers below. If you liked the first two books, just crack on and buy the third - trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Landlines begins a couple of years after The Wild Silence, beginning in the heavy stillness of lockdown in the UK. The sense of oppression, and indeed depression, is doubly weighty with the inevitable decline of Moth’s health. Whilst it’s clear that becoming an author lifted the financial burden for Raynor, there is no getting around the fact that CBD is an incurable, degenerative disease. The man she (and indeed we, through her words) is so in love with seems to be reaching a final corner, losing the ability to walk, concentrate, make decisions - even pour tea without spilling it. The early onset of grief and loss is tangible.

It seems fated then, that in one of their darkest moments Raynor reaches into the bookshelf for salvation - and the Cape Wrath Trail answers. What starts out as a journey steeped in fear, trepidation and midges by the hundreds, turns into the most uplifting, funny and hopeful book I’ve read (perhaps ever). As one trail ends, another begins - in hiking, and in life. Traversing bogs, moors, crags and hillocks; politics, brexit, covid and the impact of climate change - this is a story about our country and it’s rapidly changing landscape. From the vast wilderness of north western Scotland, to ever smaller corridors of sparse wildlife trying to survive the threat of monoculture and privatisation of land in equal measure. It’s about nature, resilience and mortality; but more than that - more than anything actually, it’s about wholehearted, enduring love.

It’s the idea that the action of walking for a long time allows the world to fall away; eventually the walker and the path become one, the walker reaches the wayless way.

I read it in three days, its completely impossible to put down - and I sobbed unashamedly on the tube in the final chapter. It’s incredibly sad, magical, wild, courageous, romantic and so beautifully written.