Storm Pegs
A Life Made in Shetland
by Jen Hadfield
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Pub Date 11 Jul 2024 | Archive Date 11 Jul 2024
Pan Macmillan | Picador
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Description
'I was transported' Katherine May
'Rich, attentive and beautifully written' Amy Liptrot
'This book has been my friend' Sarah Moss
From the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Highland Book Prize, and the Windham-Campbell Prize
What if the answer to ‘Where am I?’ is ‘heaven’?
In her late twenties, celebrated poet Jen Hadfield moved to the Shetland archipelago to make her life anew. A scattering of islands at the northernmost point of the United Kingdom, frequently cut off from the mainland by storms, Shetland is a place of Vikings and myths, of ancient languages and old customs, of breathtaking landscapes and violent weather. It has long fascinated travellers seeking the edge of the world.
On these islands known for their isolation and drama, Hadfield found something more: a place teeming with life, where rare seabirds blow in on Atlantic gales, seals and dolphins visit its beaches, and wild folk festivals carry the residents through long, dark winters. She found a close-knit community, too, of neighbours always willing to lend a boat or build a creel, of women wild-swimming together in the star-spangled winter seas. Over seventeen years, as bright summer nights gave way to storm-lashed winters, she learned new ways to live.
In prose as rich and magical as Shetland itself, Hadfield transports us to the islands as a local; introducing us to the remote and beautiful archipelago where she has made her home, and shows us new ways of living at the edge.
Advance Praise
'Storm Pegs perfectly captures the knotting of language and landscape. I was transported' Katherine May, Sunday Times bestselling author of Wintering
'Storm Pegs is rich, attentive and beautifully written. Hadfield writes vividly about the tides, the Shaetlan language, and shows a great appreciation for the people and modern life of Shetland. This book has been my friend. I really loved it and I recommend it' Amy Liptrot, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Outrun
'Delightful: at once intricate and effortless, playful and deeply-felt. A heartfelt paean to a coldwater Eden' Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment
'What a wonderful book. Jen Hadfield just has to turn her languaged gaze to the world and it fizzes to life on the page. One of the most intensely realised accounts of a place - and time in a place - I have read' Philip Marsden, author of The Summer Isles
'Storm Pegs is a deeply thoughtful and beautifully written account of a life centred on making art in a lively island community. Hadfield writes with rare nuance about choosing and building a new life in a place that calls to many of us' Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater
'A gorgeous portrait of a fascinating, ever-changing place, as well as very many other things: friendship, community, creation and self-creation, the cycle of the seasons and the toil and triumph of the elements. I adored it' Sara Baume, author of A Line Made By Walking
'This book is brim-full of love for Shetland – for its land and seascapes, for its people and language. Hadfield’s writing is fuelled by unceasing curiosity and attentiveness. It is vivid, lively and fresh' Malachy Tallack, author of Sixty Degrees North
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781529038026 |
| PRICE | £18.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 352 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 774133
Storm Pegs by Jen Hatfield
A very good insight to changing your life and taking a very different path from what is seen as normal.
I loved the nature of it all and how she integrated into isle life.
Samantha L, Reviewer
This is such a beautiful book. It is about Jen Hadfields' life in Shetland over the course of about a year.
This book made me ache to see the places Jen so eloquently describes, from cold water swimming to hiking to cliffs, I felt I was there too.
This is a journey of discovery, about place, people, and self. It is understanding what people can do when they live "at the edge."
I had always thought the Shetland was a bit remote, but this challenged me to consider what remote really is.
Jen is a poet, which comes across in the magical use of her prose. I was laughing out loud in parts and weeping in others. I wished I had a paper version of the book to underline paragraphs about swearing, descriptions of the sea, and the beautiful Shetland words.
This made me want to visit even more, to take in the stunning beauty described and also, hopefully, catch a whisper or two of the Shetland language in use.
Kimberly E, Reviewer
Storm Pegs by Jen Hadfield is an exceptionally beautifully written novel about what fell into place in her life to get her to move to Shetland. Her descriptions of the elements, weather changes and isolated living at times captured my curiosity of the reality of living amongst such complicated beauty.
I love this book. I fell into the rhythm of Jen’s writing style and I wish I could love to Shetland too!
Reviewer 1394760
Incredible at her craft, Jen Hadfield, writes about her life at Shetland, and proves that great writing is not about unexpected twists or twists for the sake of simply shocking the reader, nor is great memoirs about the author themselves. Putting the heart and soul of Shetland at its core, Hadfield’s writing transforms and transports the reader with the execution of details of every day life, adaptation, local slang, nature and community. I enjoyed every bit of it.
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