This is such a beautiful book, filled with wild and wonderful thoughts and memories of Shetland over 17 years, it caught me quite unawares. Award-winning author Jen Hadfield is a poet and oh my, her gift with words transports into the eloquence of this autobiography. Shaetlan words and phrases and their meanings are explored, this paired with her own powerful expression and style transports you to her centre of the world. The years flow, from the past into the present, though mostly time ceases to exist. It felt to me as though the author was often testing herself and pursuing her fears, reaching out, truly living in the moment and experiencing our natural world. Yet this wasn’t done in a thrill-seeking way as such, it was more connective than that, she was tuning into the world in which she was living. While the wonders of nature and the islands themselves sit at the forefront, community and friendship share the stage. The author’s love of these islands and its people shines and shimmers through the pages. I have fallen in love with this book, and therefore with the Shetland Islands as seen through her eyes. I just had to include this autobiography as both a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month. Bold and stormy, tender and thoughtful, Storm Pegs is a stimulating and inspiring read.
A stunning love letter of life in Shetland by Jen Hadfield, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize.
'This book has been my friend' - Amy Liptrot, bestselling author of The Outrun 'I was transported' - KATHERINE MAY, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WINTERING
'Deeply thoughtful and beautifully written' - SARAH MOSS, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SUMMERWATER
'A book as exhilarating as a dip in wild winter waters' - THE GUARDIAN
In her late twenties, poet Jen Hadfield moved to Shetland to make a new life. Here, in a rugged constellation of islands known for their isolation and drama, she found a place teeming with life, where rare seabirds blow in on Atlantic gales, an ancient language thrives, and a close-knit community is the beating heart of an entire world.
In Storm Pegs, Hadfield transports us to the islands as a local, introducing us to the remote and beautiful archipelago where she has made her home, and shows us new ways of living at the edge.
