West Auckland x Unity Books Book Club

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Rebanks, famous for his bestselling book The Last Shepherd, opens this masterful work of travel-writing musing on the end of the world: “I imagine the last human on earth being a woman on a rocky shoreline”. This woman, he imagines, would be someone like Anna.

On the island of Fjærøy, a tiny, usually uninhabited island in the Vega archipelago on Norway’s west coast, lives 70-something year old Anna Måsøy. She spends 3-4 months every year in solitude tending to the nests of wild eider ducks, in the hope that she can rejuvenate this once flourishing colony.

It's a beautiful testament to the nurturing nature and strength of women, as well as their resilience and need for solitude. Plus, The Place of Tides is a homage to the determination of one woman working tirelessly to keep her family's ancient tradition alive.