Eloquent

Movingly relevant

Mak is good on the pulse of the village, its ebb and flow as people come and go, but running throughout the book is a genuine anger that this is a meritorious way of life we are too eager to dismiss

A big subject, neatly summarized, in which he also studies the changes in people's values that take place when they move to big cities, and the role now played by incomers in village life

Nowhere has the silent rural revolution been described more beautifully and with mroe feeling

This book is not just about Jorwerd, it is about all the villages in the world, the oldest community known to man, where all our ancestors, our collective memories, our highest values and most beautiful stories originate

A top biography...This is great, grisly stuff and an education for anyone

... This bright, engaging and breezy book ... suits the tenor of our times.

Elegant prose ... a stylish and engaing account of some of the world's most mysterious, unknowable spots and, like the best travel writing, is infused with the writer's reflections on growing up, life and death

A funny, entertaining and humane piece of writing

Sara Wheeler is the literary maestro of the earth's frozen regions... The prose is startling and sharp-edged as the icy landscapes themselves

Irresistibly attractive ... coddling hoosh of personal travelogue, historical anecdotage and speculative thinking

[Has] a meditative, often melancholy, quality that tells us a lot about what it's like to simply be in the Arctic...the author deftly weaves in some nicely crafted vignettes that illuminate various aspects of the Arctic experience

It is the warmth and the honesty of the portraits that is Wheeler's forte

Wheeler is excellent company for the journey, with her observations on the consequences of our actions always well balanced and open-minded

Is an entertaining mix of popular science, history and reportage, wrapped up in some seriously fine writing

Wonderful account of her journeys through the region

One of the greatest travel books of our times - poignant, funny, a delight to read

Her writing, while brilliantly evocative, is never overblown... If you are lucky you might get to travel in the Arctic yourself; if you don't, this book is the next best thing

A chilling and fascinating work

Quite wonderful

Carries lightly a depth of research that gives alarming edge to Wheeler's engrossing

It is a testament to the author's ability that the text never lurches into despondency- above all, this is a book that celebrates the inspiring endurance and colourful past of those who populate the area

In its many-layered discoveries, the book is truly magnetic