Publication Date: 03/03/2022 ISBN: 9780349014951 Category:

Soundings

Doreen Cunningham

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Publication Date: 03/03/2022 ISBN: 9780349014951 Category:
Hardback

£18.99

Quantity:

Description

‘Beautiful . . . Justifies its place alongside nature writing classics such as H is for Hawk’ NEW STATESMAN

‘Wonderful … both frank and fearless’ TELEGRAPH BEST TRAVEL BOOKS OF THE YEAR

‘Fascinating’ GUARDIAN TOP TEN NATURE MEMOIRS

From Mexico to the Arctic ice, grey whale mothers swim with their calves. Following them, by bus, train and ferry, are Doreen and her toddler Max, in pursuit of a wild hope. Doreen first visited Alaska as a young journalist reporting on climate change among indigenous whaling communities. There, drawn deeply into an Inupiaq family, she joined the bowhead whale hunt, watching for polar bears under the never-ending light. Years later, now a single mother living in a hostel, Doreen embarks on this extraordinary journey: following the grey whale migration back to the Arctic, where greys and bowheads meet at the melting apex of our planet.

‘Soundings got under my skin. I finished it in tears’ AMY LIPTROT

‘What a voice! What a book!’ CHARLES FOSTER

‘Soulful, honest, insightful, humane and propulsive’ JINI REDDY

‘Thrilling, passionate and tender-hearted’ HELEN JUKES

WINNER OF THE RSL GILES ST AUBYN AWARD

ONE OF SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE’S TEN BEST BOOKS ABOUT TRAVEL OF 2022

Publisher Review

Doreen's is a thrilling, passionate and tenderhearted adventure. I read this book in one sitting, and couldn't sleep that night - my mind was still filled with her extraordinary endurance, her wild spirit. * Helen Jukes, author of A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings * What a voice! What a book! Pounding with the power of thrashing flukes, shivering with Arctic ice, yet suffused with rare human warmth. A book worthy of its mighty subjects. * Charles Foster, author of Being a Human * Beautiful and brave, and startling in its raw emotional honesty. * Neil Ansell, author of Deep Country and The Circling Sky * This stunning book blends nature writing of the most urgent kind with precise and poetic observation of human tribulation and the interconnectedness of all things. Fresh, brave and unique * Damian le Bas, author of The Stopping Places * Soundings stuns with its bravery and lyricism. This is a book to be devoured. * Ramita Navai, author of City of Lies * Cunningham's scientific knowledge and gorgeous prose take us on an extraordinary journey as she forges a remarkable connection with these astonishing creatures and issues an impassioned plea for our shared futures. Soundings is a completely unique, unforgettable book. * Erica Wagner * An intimate and fascinating story of one woman's journey with our most charismatic species * Mark Boyle, author of The Way Home * Beautifully written, insightful and gripping * Daniel Lavelle, author of Down and Out * In this fascinating book, Doreen Cunningham takes us on an intimate journey through a world already changed by climate change. As her own travel companions become ours - the indigenous people of Utqiagvik, the whales of the Pacific, the world's scientists and her little son Max - we learn that it is only by coming together as people and species that we will be able to navigate our way ahead in the vast troubled waters of our shared future. * Sjon, author of The Whispering Muse * This book is a gorgeous journey. Cunningham guides us elegantly from Mexico to Alaska, riding along with wild grey whales. And she excels as well at bringing the reader along on her personal journey of motherhood, struggle, and epiphany. You will be glad you've joined her. * Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief * A raw and rapturous work of nature writing. Or is it memoir? Adventure journalism? Pop science? Climate cri de coeur? This foul-mouthed, gimlet-eyed, big-hearted chimera of a book is all of those - and more * Robert Moor, bestselling author of On Trails: An Exploration *

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