Ravei (UK)... this book is deeply personal and spiritual in its exploration of the healing qualities of nature, which Winn believes will slow the effects of the condition laying waste to her husband. It is also a book about the cathartic potential of writing. She delights in reliving every twist and turn of the coastal path from the safety of her kitchen table, helped along by numerous cups of tea. Her writing transforms her surroundings and her spirits, her joy coming across clearly in her shimmering prose ... Above all, though, it is her love of nature and her love for Moth which most deeply permeate her writing ... Winn chronicles the process [of re-wilding a farm] with wide-eyed wonder, beautifully describing the visits of deer, toads, curlews and herons, as well as the apple orchard from which monks once made cider ... The resulting journey amid the volcanic rockscape of Iceland testifies to the pair’s endurance, conjured up powerfully by Winn’s evocative words.
John Preston
MixediNewsPreston’s sourcing is uneven at times ... While the flow of Preston’s prose cannot be faulted, Fall’s portrayal of Maxwell will not be a surprise to anyone already familiar with his life, as the book paints a picture of a selfish, irascible and morally dubious man who swindled people, most notoriously through his plundering of hundreds of millions of pounds from the Mirror Group’s pension funds ... Despite his subject’s undeniable faults, Preston can go too far. Having repeatedly commented on Maxwell’s gluttony and obesity, he cannot resist a final quip about his weight ... Thanks to Preston’s fine writing, Fall fizzes along at pace and is engrossing as it charts Maxwell’s astonishing life – and how he came to be so widely reviled.
Mark O'Connell
PositiveiNews... plenty to ponder as well as laugh about en route ... The journey appears to have done O’Connell some good; the reader will get much out of it, too.
