Fair Isle by Emma Harding

“I’m back here, on these windy rocks, looking for hope in my imagination and my surroundings.” 

Outrun, by Amy Liptrot, p. 149.

Pathetic fallacy is a literary device which attributes human feelings and emotions to non-human aspects of nature. The wind that ‘rages’ through the trees. The ‘despairing’ call of the curlew. The (oft-used but best-avoided) first line, ’it was a dark and stormy night’, that presages the tempestuous emotions of the main characters or the violence inherent in the story to come. 

In Outrun, an autobiographical account of a young woman’s descent into and slow recovery from alcoholism, Amy Liptrot turns pathetic fallacy on its head. 

In her self-imposed exile, first on Orkney, then the smaller, more remote island of Papay, Liptrot immerses herself in the wild landscapes and even wilder weather of these, the UK’s most northerly, shores.

In doing so, she is able to strip away all the distractions, temptations and false-busyness of an urban existence. Giving her the space, time and clarity to tune into the reasons for her drinking and build up the inner strength she needs to maintain a life of sobriety.

But the wind-lashed and sea-sculpted island does more than just provide a retreat. It is through her engagement with and enquiries into the workings of the vital and elemental land she finds herself in that she gains insight into her own motivations, desires, actions, achievements and failings. Rather than projecting her inner turmoil onto the natural world, it is through understanding the forces at play in shaping that world, that she comes to understand her own.

And it is her fascination with weather, with geology, with star-gazing and bird-watching, with anthropology, etymology, and with myth and folktale, that make this such a rich and enriching read. I particularly enjoyed small illuminating details, like the fact that on really windy days, the smallest children are kept indoors, or that there is an atmospheric phenomenon, called Fata Morgana, that makes things on the horizon - lighthouses, ships, islands - appear as if upside down. 

A clear-sighted, searingly honest yet elegant portrayal of nature's restorative power, this is a highly recommended read. For more info, and to purchase, click here. 

Why Fair Isle? Here's why:

“Orkney and Shetland are in the Fair Isle sea area of the shipping forecast and, getting ready for bed, my ears tune in when its name is read: ‘Wind: easterly or north-easterly six to gale eight. Sea state: rough or very rough. Wintry showers. Visibility: good, occasionally poor.’”

Outrun, p. 231.