Call number
305.569 WIN
Collection
Genres
Publication
Penguin Books (2021), 288 pages
Description
"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"--… (more)
Media reviews
Notions of home are poignantly explored in Raynor Winn's The Wild Silence (Michael Joseph), the sequel to the award-winning The Salt Path, as the author adjusts to living with a roof over her head after a period of financial hardship followed by homelessness. Winn moves to Cornwall, where she takes
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on a piece of farmland for rewilding. Her evocations of weather, landscape, the sea and her love for her partner, Moth, who has an incurable neurodegenerative condition, are wonderful. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
I will start this review with a comment on how much I loved this author’s first book, The Salt Path, which I found both absorbing and inspiring and immediately upon finishing the book, I ordered myself a copy of this second book, The Wild Silence. Unfortunately, this book did not hold the magic
While the first book was filled with a sense of hope, this one just felt dragged down with despair and the feeling of inevitability. The Icelandic trip felt like a last ditch effort to recapture something that had passed, although the author still shines at writing descriptively about nature, I wasn’t able to recapture the feeling of wonder and adventure that the first book generated.
I do wish that I had stopped after the first book. The Wild Silence felt like it was put together with bits and pieces to be used as filler, it wasn’t cohesive and didn’t seem to have a theme. It did however, improve a lot once they went to Iceland and were hiking again but by that time, my interest had waned.
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of the first one, describing as it does their life after their coastal walk. Moth is going to university to get his degree but the disease has advanced and there are difficulties. Ray learns that he really doesn’t remember much about their life changing walk and so she writes the book that was to become The Salt Path for him. A good part of this book describes Ray’s childhood and how she and Moth met, fell in love and married. The section that deals with the death of her mother was a difficult read. The final part of the book is about how they reached the decision to do another walk, and this time they go with friends and chose Iceland as their destination. While the first book was filled with a sense of hope, this one just felt dragged down with despair and the feeling of inevitability. The Icelandic trip felt like a last ditch effort to recapture something that had passed, although the author still shines at writing descriptively about nature, I wasn’t able to recapture the feeling of wonder and adventure that the first book generated.
I do wish that I had stopped after the first book. The Wild Silence felt like it was put together with bits and pieces to be used as filler, it wasn’t cohesive and didn’t seem to have a theme. It did however, improve a lot once they went to Iceland and were hiking again but by that time, my interest had waned.
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LibraryThing member jphamilton
There is a curious difference between Raynor Winn’s two memoirs. In her first, The Salt Path, she created something very special when she described her husband serious health problems, their horrible financial troubles (including the sudden loss of their home and livelihood), and what they did
With The Wild Silence, she didn’t have as much of a sharp focus, and she went on a bit of an Australian walkabout thematically, before focusing on the property they’re improving, Moth’s health, and a new hike the two took in Iceland. By the time I finished the second book, I found it lacking in comparison. Most likely it was because I so related to the poverty and the loving nature of the first book, when they faced such dire straits together. With this book, her writing wandered and hiking in Iceland just seemed so out of character.
There is a very powerful section of this book when Raynor is dealing with her mother’s health problems, which seem to be steadily improving, and then she suddenly suffers a serious stroke, and is there no more. These times were very personal and almost raw. Also, she seemed to be caught off guard, after all that time spent being so focused on Moth’s health problems.
The publication of the first book changed their lives socially and financially. It brought them a much-needed income, and it also attracted a Londoner named Sam who owned a home in an ancient apple orchard in Cornwall. The land’s soil had been depleted to the point where nothing grew, and Sam was determined to sell or find someone to restore the land. After reading and adoring the first book, he knew that Moth and Raynor were a perfect fit for the place, as they would understand what needed to be done.
As became abundantly clear over time, the doctors were wrong about Moth and the effects of exertion on his health. In the first part of this book, Moth is very busy but sedately completing his academic degree, and his health is steadily declining. Once they are on the Cornwall property, and Moth is very active physically with the land and the house improvements, his health is again improving. The couple come together again through physical challenges out-of-doors. The following lines by Raynor stuck with me. "I needed the safety of being one with the land," she writes. "Without it I would never be whole." She should let herself ponder things more often, because she is very good when she reflects about life, love, the natural world, and the human condition. It’s certainly didn’t originate with her, but considering her history, it’s apt when she wonders how people have become so detached from the natural world.
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about it. With next to nothing and no future prospects, with all her husband Moth’s doctors saying his terminal brain condition (CBD), meant that he must avoid most all exertion … they went for a hike, a 630-mile hike along England’s coastline. She wrote that book for Moth, when she realized that he didn’t remember much of their incredible trip. Raynor has a natural ability to describe the natural world and the curious people they met, but to me it was how she wrote about their love for each other, and the challenges that they faced together that captured my imagination. With The Wild Silence, she didn’t have as much of a sharp focus, and she went on a bit of an Australian walkabout thematically, before focusing on the property they’re improving, Moth’s health, and a new hike the two took in Iceland. By the time I finished the second book, I found it lacking in comparison. Most likely it was because I so related to the poverty and the loving nature of the first book, when they faced such dire straits together. With this book, her writing wandered and hiking in Iceland just seemed so out of character.
There is a very powerful section of this book when Raynor is dealing with her mother’s health problems, which seem to be steadily improving, and then she suddenly suffers a serious stroke, and is there no more. These times were very personal and almost raw. Also, she seemed to be caught off guard, after all that time spent being so focused on Moth’s health problems.
The publication of the first book changed their lives socially and financially. It brought them a much-needed income, and it also attracted a Londoner named Sam who owned a home in an ancient apple orchard in Cornwall. The land’s soil had been depleted to the point where nothing grew, and Sam was determined to sell or find someone to restore the land. After reading and adoring the first book, he knew that Moth and Raynor were a perfect fit for the place, as they would understand what needed to be done.
As became abundantly clear over time, the doctors were wrong about Moth and the effects of exertion on his health. In the first part of this book, Moth is very busy but sedately completing his academic degree, and his health is steadily declining. Once they are on the Cornwall property, and Moth is very active physically with the land and the house improvements, his health is again improving. The couple come together again through physical challenges out-of-doors. The following lines by Raynor stuck with me. "I needed the safety of being one with the land," she writes. "Without it I would never be whole." She should let herself ponder things more often, because she is very good when she reflects about life, love, the natural world, and the human condition. It’s certainly didn’t originate with her, but considering her history, it’s apt when she wonders how people have become so detached from the natural world.
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LibraryThing member JulieStielstra
I requested both of Raynor Winn's books at the same time from my library system; this one came first. Maybe I'd have liked it better if I had read The Salt Path first.
This is a genre I am always interested in: intimate, knowledgeable, loving studies of nature, wilderness, or farm life. But my bar
No quarrel with Winn's character (I quite identify with her anti-social tendencies, and this last year and a half hasn't helped), her sincerity, her passion for the natural world, and driving desire to describe and share it with her readers (and her beloved husband). She has been amazingly staunch and courageous in the face of her family misfortunes, and how she has clung to what the world can give her in joy and awe. I just didn't care for how she writes about them. I am - like her, in a way - more interested in the woods, the prairies, the badgers, and foxes than I am in human travails, and so want to read more about them, themselves, than how they make a particular human feel or what she thinks about them. So this one just wasn't for me.
This is a genre I am always interested in: intimate, knowledgeable, loving studies of nature, wilderness, or farm life. But my bar
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is pretty high, having been set by Aldo Leopold, Henry Beston, Helen MacDonald (with some reservations), Jon Dunn, James Rebanks, et al. Clearly Winn's heart is full, earnest and in the right place. I might still like The Salt Path, but... not this one. Overwritten, overwrought, repetitive, and then... it starts to turn into writing about her writing. When she completes her labor of love, the manuscript of The Salt Path, her daughter says, wow, mom, you should get this published. So she picks out an agent, sends it off, and bingo - she's on her way to best-sellerdom. At which point my grapes went sour and I quit.No quarrel with Winn's character (I quite identify with her anti-social tendencies, and this last year and a half hasn't helped), her sincerity, her passion for the natural world, and driving desire to describe and share it with her readers (and her beloved husband). She has been amazingly staunch and courageous in the face of her family misfortunes, and how she has clung to what the world can give her in joy and awe. I just didn't care for how she writes about them. I am - like her, in a way - more interested in the woods, the prairies, the badgers, and foxes than I am in human travails, and so want to read more about them, themselves, than how they make a particular human feel or what she thinks about them. So this one just wasn't for me.
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LibraryThing member Fliss88
Wild Silence doesn't have the passion or easy flow of The Salt Path in my opinion but I enjoyed reconnecting with Ray and Moth. Their situation has changed dramatically and I was curious to hear what had happened to them both. There is another walk we take with them. Not as long this time but in
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many ways far more challenging - 3½ stars from me. Show Less
LibraryThing member N.W.Moors
After walking the South West Path around Cornwall, Ray and Moth settled in Cornwall. Moth went to uni to finish his degree but Ray was a bit at loose ends, so she wrote The Salt Path. This led them to a new home and more walking.
Ray writes so lyrically and descriptively. She captures the world
In some ways, I feel like she's charting pieces of my life. I read The Salt Path before I hiked Offa's Dyke Path on my own. I read this book while dealing with my son's diagnosis of PLS and it has encouraged me to push him to read about Moth and his struggles and triumphs.
I look forward to more from Ms. Winn and I encourage all to read her books.
Ray writes so lyrically and descriptively. She captures the world
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around her in such a lovely way and it makes the reader feel like they're meandering around the farm or woods, or hiking in Iceland with her.In some ways, I feel like she's charting pieces of my life. I read The Salt Path before I hiked Offa's Dyke Path on my own. I read this book while dealing with my son's diagnosis of PLS and it has encouraged me to push him to read about Moth and his struggles and triumphs.
I look forward to more from Ms. Winn and I encourage all to read her books.
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LibraryThing member thewestwing
A very worthy follow up to ‘The Salt Path’. Interesting insight to what happened to Ray and Moth after the end of the last book. Enjoyed the beautiful writing.
LibraryThing member m.belljackson
THE WILD SILENCE gets off to a Rock and Tent opening which felt oddly contrived unlike the beginning of SALT PATH.
Next, the horrors of the gamekeeper are introduced. Not compelling reading.
The sadness of her Mother's dying was strangely interspersed with meeting and marrying Moth.
Thankfully the
have to go down the No Money No Food poverty chain which wore thin in the first book.
The plot picks up as Moth start to regain his health on the rental farm they are restoring and
the join up with their old PATH friends, Dave and Julie, as they go WALKING again with Paddy Dillon.
Iceland descriptions are enthralling.
(Though readers may well tire of again hearing about pee-ing and toilet blocks.)
Next, the horrors of the gamekeeper are introduced. Not compelling reading.
The sadness of her Mother's dying was strangely interspersed with meeting and marrying Moth.
Thankfully the
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publication of THE SALT PATH gives them enough money and fame so we don'thave to go down the No Money No Food poverty chain which wore thin in the first book.
The plot picks up as Moth start to regain his health on the rental farm they are restoring and
the join up with their old PATH friends, Dave and Julie, as they go WALKING again with Paddy Dillon.
Iceland descriptions are enthralling.
(Though readers may well tire of again hearing about pee-ing and toilet blocks.)
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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
Wild Silence had very good bits, but it also had quite a few not so good bits, and it just didn't hold together. If I hadn't read The Salt Path I wouldn't have made it past the first few chapters.
Awards
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — Non-Fiction — 2021)
James Cropper Wainwright Prize (Shortlist — 2021)
ISBN
0143136429 / 9780143136422