In 2017 William Henry Searle and his wife Amy lost their baby, Elowen a few days before their due date. In the weeks that followed, unmoored by sadness, what they discovered was that there was no established vocabulary for losing a child. Elowen charts the story of how a love for the natural world sustained Will and he began to live with his grief.
----------------------------- 'Touching and on occasion profoundly moving ... The connections and affinities that fill this book enliven, enlighten and delight.' STEPHEN FRY 'Beautifully written and insightful.' RAYNOR WINN 'Searle creates a powerful sense of place. You can sniff the air and touch the trees.' MICHAEL PALIN ----------------------------- A lyrical journey through life, love and nature Weaving together personal stories, Threads deals with the meanings of intimacy, vulnerability and our affinities with people and places, both wild and tame. It is a deep exploration of the encounters that lend quiet networks of grace to our busy lives. William Henry Searle casts an eye back to episodes spent in close and tender relationships with members of his family, childhood friends, animals and loved ones, in places that range from his father’s scrap metal yards, to the jungles of Borneo, an Oregon river and the Swiss Alps. In thoughtful, elegant prose, Searle celebrates the quiet conversations that nourish us, and the everyday patterns of connection that give meaning to our human existence. ----------------------------- 'An exceptionally rich celebration of the natural world, by turns rapturous and melancholy, and often – in strikingly original ways – both at the same time.' SIR ANDREW MOTION