Description

‘A delight for anyone whose heart thumps at the sight of dawn, dusk and hazy light’ Nell Frizzell

At first, I didn’t find fog – fog found me.

Liminal, transformative and increasingly elusive – far from a simple cloud of water droplets, fog is a state of mind. As mist drifted through a copse of trees, turning a familiar place strange and otherworldly, Laura Pashby snapped a photograph and an obsession began.

Pashby hunts for fog, walks and swims in it, explores its often pivotal role in literature, mythology and history, as well as its environmental significance. There has been a 50 per cent drop in ‘fog events’ in the past fifty years, fog is drifting away without us noticing and the ecological impact could be calamitous.

As she journeys to the foggiest places she can find, Pashby immerses herself in Dartmoor’s dangerous fog, searches for the Scottish haar, experiences Venice’s magical mist, tell us the myths behind the River Severn’s fog and the shipwrecks it hides.

It’s easy to get lost in fog, but sometimes it’s where imperceptible things can be found, including in ourselves. Chasing Fog is a captivating meditation on fog and mist, a love song to weather and nature’s power to transform.

Publisher Review

‘This quirky book, illustrated with her atmospheric black and white photographs makes the case for getting out and appreciating the magic of a foggy day’ * Mail on Sunday * ‘Pashby takes us into the heart of fog and conjures it powerfully – you are there with her in the mists and sea fret. She also comes bearing a warning. In the opening pages, she quotes from a 2009 study that showed fog, mist, and haze were all in decline across Europe. Pashby worries too about her own efforts to find it, and fears it may soon be a tale of the past, like the frost fairs on the Thames she writes about so elegantly. Let us hope not, for this book, which captures the weird wonderfulness of fog, may make a convert out of you too’ * Evening Standard * ‘A lovely meander through foggy landscapes and their meanings’ — Katherine May ‘A charming exploration of fog, mist, haar and haze that captures that dreamy state of mind that accompanies it and the uncanny aspect of low visibility. Laura Pashby guides us across gloomy moors lit by will-o-the-wisps, past clifftop beacons beating out their loyal rhythms, and through the labyrinthine, mist-wreathed streets of Venice. Eerie and evocative’ — Cal Flyn ‘An ode to the magic of the unknown, the unpredictable and the unseen; Chasing Fog is both fascinating and gorgeously written. Haunting and beautiful, this surprising mix of nature-writing and memoir draws us into the strange and nuanced world of fog and reminds us of the potency and potential in moments of dream and drift’ — Rebecca Schiller ‘Laura Pashby’s captivating ode to fog and mist is a love letter to the transformative power of nature’ * BBC Countryfile Magazine * ‘Laura Pashby approaches that most mysterious and misunderstood weather with a photographer’s eye and a writer’s curiosity: this clear-sighted and loving ode to fog is a beautiful adventure’ — Alice Vincent ‘Pashby’s quest “to find a depth of meaning and magic” in fog results in a frequently beguiling and thought-provoking book, one that offers a way of looking at the world and its weather in a subtly different light’ * Literary Review * ‘An exquisite piece of nature writing’ * i * ‘A lushly sensuous exploration of the many possibilities that arise from fog, so vivid that by the end I could feel it clinging to my skin’ — Dr Sharon Blackie ‘This quirky book, illustrated with her atmospheric black and white photographs makes the case for getting out and appreciating the magic of a foggy day’ * Mail on Sunday * ‘Pashby takes us into the heart of fog and conjures it powerfully – you are there with her in the mists and sea fret. She also comes bearing a warning. In the opening pages, she quotes from a 2009 study that showed fog, mist, and haze were all in decline across Europe. Pashby worries too about her own efforts to find it, and fears it may soon be a tale of the past, like the frost fairs on the Thames she writes about so elegantly. Let us hope not, for this book, which captures the weird wonderfulness of fog, may make a convert out of you too’ * Evening Standard * ‘A lovely meander through foggy landscapes and their meanings’ — Katherine May ‘A charming exploration of fog, mist, haar and haze that captures that dreamy state of mind that accompanies it and the uncanny aspect of low visibility. Laura Pashby guides us across gloomy moors lit by will-o-the-wisps, past clifftop beacons beating out their loyal rhythms, and through the labyrinthine, mist-wreathed streets of Venice. Eerie and evocative’ — Cal Flyn ‘An ode to the magic of the unknown, the unpredictable and the unseen; Chasing Fog is both fascinating and gorgeously written. Haunting and beautiful, this surprising mix of nature-writing and memoir draws us into the strange and nuanced world of fog and reminds us of the potency and potential in moments of dream and drift’ — Rebecca Schiller ‘Laura Pashby’s captivating ode to fog and mist is a love letter to the transformative power of nature’ * BBC Countryfile Magazine * ‘Laura Pashby approaches that most mysterious and misunderstood weather with a photographer’s eye and a writer’s curiosity: this clear-sighted and loving ode to fog is a beautiful adventure’ — Alice Vincent ‘Pashby’s quest “to find a depth of meaning and magic” in fog results in a frequently beguiling and thought-provoking book, one that offers a way of looking at the world and its weather in a subtly different light’ * Literary Review * ‘An exquisite piece of nature writing’ * i * ‘A lushly sensuous exploration of the many possibilities that arise from fog, so vivid that by the end I could feel it clinging to my skin’ — Dr Sharon Blackie