A fascinating read!
The way of life of the "duck woman" and her determination to bring Eider ducks back to her family islands provided a window into a culture, place and way of life I had previously been unaware of. The descriptions of the harshness of the weather and the beauty of the spring flowers were transportive.

This was my first book by James Rebanks; I had heard good things about his nature writing and this one did not disappoint. A beautifully told account of the author's time in the far north of Norway with Anna the "duck woman" and others. Despite the hard, harsh way of life working with the eider ducks using traditional methods and living very simple lives, this was a very insightful, gentle read. The author was clearly deeply affected by his time with Anna and this is emotively conveyed in his writing.

Firstly, I am aware that this book has been getting rave reviews, but I found it hard going, and where nothing much happens. I understand that James Rebanks has put a lot of work and research into this novel, and I do admire him for that. However I found it all rather dull, the story is repetitive and I found it very hard to engage with the characters. It was just not for me.

The Place of Tides by James Rebanks is an inspiring and wonderfully observed memoir. A fascinating read.

On a remote Norwegian island James Rebanks meets an old woman and is fascinated by her stories of her life caring for the Eider ducks on the island. She collects all their feathers for what was once a thriving industry but not any more.
He never forgot her and many years later wrote to her and asked if he could spend the season with her on the island. As it turns out its her last season.
This is the story of that season.
This is a beautifully written book and gives us a insight not only to the lady and her work but to the beauty of the islands and way of life nearly gone for ever.

The author from Cumberland goes to a remote Norwegian Island to visit and gets to meet an elderly lady,Anna , who is known as a Duck lady.She is of a dying breed of people who collect down left in the nests of Eider ducks. Many years earlier her family had become fairly wealthy from the sale of this down.
Later the author writes to see if he can join Anna on the Island over the breeding season for the Eider ducks.He joins Anna and her friend as they clean and repair the nest sites and await the arrival of the ducks.. After their arrival they check on the nests for eggs and await the hatching of the chicks and after they leave collect up the down to take home to use in quilts etc.They also patrol the area to scare off predators and gather up all waste swept up on the island to be picked up by conservationists later. As he relaxes into this work he finds a simpler way of life reducing stress in his life.

I had loved English Pastoral, by James Rebanks, so I was very interested in this book.

It is a very simple, but beautifully told book about a time when he was feeling a bit lost and seeking some solitude. He reached out to Anna, a 70 year old Norwegian woman he had met some years earlier. Anna was one of the last remaining duck women; these were the Women that would go out to the remote islands where the eider ducks came to breed. They would build nests, look after the ducks, and when they left at the end of the season, they would collect their feathers, which were a very valuable commodity. In times past, people could get rich from the feathers, but the ducks have been struggling for years. Already in decline, WW2 was disastrous for them; the were used to people, so when the German soldiers arrived they were easy targets, (not going there). The population was decimated to feed the German army. Later, mini were introduced to the islands so that the islanders could make some extra money from their fur, but the escaped; it seems that was just as bad for the eider ducks as it has been back here for the water vole.

Anna is a wonderful character. Determined to do what she could to preserve the islands and the traditions in the face of modernisation. Get stories about the histories of the islands and her families the to them made for a great read. It was not a subject I knew much about, but it made for a fascinating read.

*Many thanks to Netgally and the publishers for an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

This was a very lovely book, written with charm and sincerity. James Rebanks met Anna many years ago, in a land that time has almost forgotten. Anna's life on a remote Norwegian island is bound up in looking after her ducks, Many years later she is persuaded to allow James to visit her and the charm of friendship and empathy is beautifully written.
Thank you for the chance to read this book.

Restless Cumbrian farmer, James Rebanks, gets in touch with a Norwegian lady called Anna (who he met briefly a few years ago and admired for her stoicism and resilience) to ask if he can spend some time with her during her final Eider duck nesting season.

Anna replies simply to his request and it sets in motion what happens next. They arrive on the island with her friend Ingrid for extra help and support. Although James is accustomed to all weathers, the rigours of the climate on the remote, inhospitable islands present fresh challenges to him.

He soon realises that the wildness, the steady, solitary, necessary nature of the work and the continual battle with the elements combine to stir deep reflection in him. He examines his life and considers the determination, precision and care Anna brings to her tasks, despite her obvious frailty at first.

As the season progresses, Anna’s mood lifts, her strength returns, and she gives herself fully to the job at hand. Ingrid and Anna are initially wary of James but he earns their respect by getting heavily involved in the work. His admiration for them grows as he observes the many challenges they face and learn to overcome.

What a wonderful, warm hug of a book this is! It’s particularly perfect to curl up with during the colder autumn and winter months when nature itself invites us to slow down and pause. If you enjoy memoir and immersive nature writing, you’ll love this book. Grateful thanks to Penguin Press UK and NetGalley for the eARC.

Not the sort of book I would usually read but never the less an enchanting book and true story that deserves to be read. Tenderly written to capture the central character Anna's love of ducks in her last year of looking after the area where the ducks live.Thanks for the chance to ARC this book.

Several years ago, Rebanks visited a Norwegian island with its one remaining "duck woman", a woman who tended the eider who nested there, kept them safe from predators as far as she could and collected the feathers for eiderdowns, and felt a real connection with the woman. He couldn't get her out of his head and, it turned out, she remembered him, the only Englishman who had visited her.

And so it turned out that he was able to arrange to stay with her for her one last season before she retired - along with her best friend Ingrid, who is a little younger and more well - and help with the various processes involved. Of course, to shape the story a little more, we get Rebanks' gradual realisation that he needs to connect back better with his family, calm down a bit in his work and take the days as they come; he also learns forgiveness and patience as he pieces together Anna's story, discovering why she is now on this particular island and not the family's original one, and fortitude, as she carved out this place for herself.

Of course there is some "nature red in tooth and claw" but not too bad or vividly described, and the three people's relationship with the ducks is protective and mutual but not sentimentalised. There are lovely moments where the work Rebanks has done on the family farm carry over into this work - using a particular kind of hay fork, building dry stone walls - and he has the experience of being competent rather than very much an apprentice. The days pass slowly with quiet work and little distraction, and you sense it's very much a new beginning for Rebanks as he moves back into the mainland world at the end.

Blog post review publishing on 20 October: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2024/10/20/book-review-james-rebanks-the-place-of-tides/

A fascinating insight into the life of a rather special woman called Anna. and how the author became involved in her unique way of life.
Having spent some time with the 'duck lady', examining what leads her to suffer such hardships, but yet her great determination to complete the collection of the feathers, the author himself is led to examine his own life and expectations. This is an inspiring read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

It is difficult to write a review of this book as nothing really happens except a farmer spending time with an environmentally aware lady who looks after ducks and collects their eiderdown at the end of the season. That said it is a wonderfully comforting engaging book to fill your winter nights with. A tale of dedication and endurance, tradition and love. A vanishing occupation that will soon be no longer with us.

A beautifully detailed account of a summer spent with the eider ducks on the islands of Norway, James Rebanks bring the sensitivity of his earlier work to a culture he knew little about. He is drawn to Anna, seasoned duck-woman, to learn her ways and to reconnect with what he loves about the land but has lost. It's a very moving account of a way of life that is fast disappearing, and those strong enough to hold on to it.

An atmospheric story of a jaded journalist learning about life and hardship from an older woman. Set on a remote Norwegian island, where the journalist is sent to quiz the islanders on their lives and how they survive. He learns about the eider ducks (from which we get eiderdown) and how the islanders tend the birds’ nests in order to encourage them to return for another year. A moving story.

An enchanting true story of people who maintain the tradition of tending eider ducks on their nests, and then process the down that the hens use to keep the chicks warm, creating eiderdowns.
Sensitively told with a touch of humour

What a delightful read. This story tells us the work that goes on to preserve and help the eider duck to safely give birth and rear their chicks. For those of us with no idea that this goes on, it was a joy to follow the lives of the ‘duck women’. What a lonely time it must be for them, on uninhabited islands for weeks - but the dedication is obvious. Not only do they help keep the birds and their eggs safe but they collect the down left by the ducks to transform into eiderdown quilts.
Also within this story is the personal fight of our protagonist that maybe this, for her, was also her final year, leading to retiring. You get the feeling that this is not something she finds easy. Living this life must get firmly embedded in the Duck Women - for who can care for the ducks like they do?
This really is a different book and very well worth reading.
Let’s view our eiderdown quilts in a different light from now on.

An enchanting true story of people who maintain the tradition of tending eider ducks on their nests, and then process the down that the hens use to keep the chicks warm, creating eiderdowns.
Sensitively told with a touch of humour.
James Rebanks tells why he started this project, and how it helped him.
He brings his characters to life in his words, and explains, usually through the words explaining the same to him, all of the whys and wherfores of this pastime.
After spending some days with this group of people, it will be hard to live without them, perhaps I'll just have to read it again.
My thanks to the author for the hours of enjoyment that the book has brought me, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Back in 2020 I was delighted to read English Pastoral by James Rebanks which looked at the farming life of three generations of his family in Cumbria. I was just about to move up to Cumbria myself and it really was a wonderful read. Therefore I was delighted to read this new book.
Norway is a country that we never really hear a lot about, even less do we consider how the down from Eider Ducks is collected and treated.
Whereas English Pastoral looked at the author's own family history, this book looked at the history of, mainly, one person who spent two months each Spring on the islands off Norway building homes for the Eiders to build their nest in right through to collecting the down at the end once the ducks had left the island with their youngsters. This is a very old tradition which the author describes and it is great to see these traditions still on going and he spends the two months on the island helping out.
The story of these 'duck women' is told in such a wonderful way. Not only do we find out a lot about nature, the ducks and these amazing women, but the author is helped to re-discover himself and his emotions. The book also shows you how amazing the natural world is, and although we can see the damage done by the human race, it also shows how important people are in society, how people trat one another, and how our own beliefs can sometimes sway the way we look at life.
My only negative criticism of the book is the front cover, and the lack of any photographs in the book which would have provided an extra dimension to the story. However, this is an early copy so that may change when the book is published.
Many thanks to Penguin Press UK, NetGalley and the author for providing me with an advanced electronic copy of the book in return for a honest and unbiased review.
The book will be published on 17th October in e-book, hardback and audiobook formats and would be a great gift for anyone that loves the natural world.

This book!
A gentle hug of a book. If you enjoyed The Salt Path I think you would like this.

James Rebanks shadows Annie for a season on the duck islands. Full of drama and waiting the story of a disappearing tradition and a symbiotic relationship with the eider ducks.

A lovely restorative read, thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.