The Outrun by Any Liptrot

Book review The Outrun by Any Liptrot This was a very enjoyable memoir written by a women who grew up in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. It is the story of her growing up, not leading a very great life with troubled parents, not liking the rural life she was born into and then finding the means to escape by going to college and moving to London. In London she was adrift, getting into various kinds of trouble and ending up in rehab. After rehab she returned to the islands north of Scotland for a ‘visit’ and ended up staying. The island life, the starkness, the geology and the wildlife, which she had zero interest in as a person growing up there, turned out to fascinate her as a sober adult. She became an expert on the flora and fauna of the islands, working for conservations groups, becoming a part of the community that she never could as an unhappy child growing up there. Among her other ruminations, she speculates on the nature of addiction, family, heredity, connection to the land and other themes that are present in other books that are listed here. In particular she talks about the aspects of being alone and in silence, or at least in nature and what this means to people’s lives and well being.