{"title":"Books by Wyl Menmuir","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780711273979","title":"The Draw of the Sea","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE HOLYER AN GO AWARD 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Wyl Menmuir’s \u003ci\u003eThe Draw of the \u003c\/i\u003eSea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the sea and the people whose livelihoods revolve around it, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Since the earliest stages of human development, \u003cb\u003ethe sea has fascinated and entranced us\u003c\/b\u003e. It feeds us, \u003cb\u003esustaining communities\u003c\/b\u003e and providing livelihood, but it also holds\u003cb\u003e immense destructive power\u003c\/b\u003e that threatens to destroy all we have created.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It connects us to faraway places, offering the \u003cb\u003epromise of new lands \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eand voyages of discovery, but also\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e shapes our borders\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, carving divisions between landmasses and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eeroding the very ground beneath our feet.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In this \u003cb\u003elyrical meditation\u003c\/b\u003e on what it is that draws us to the waters' edge, author Wyl Menmuir tells the stories of the \u003cb\u003epeople whose lives revolve around the coastline and all it has to offer.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In twelve interlinked chapters, Menmuir explores the lives of \u003cb\u003elocal fishermen steeped in the rich traditions \u003c\/b\u003eof a fishing community, the beachcombers who wander the shores in search of the varied objects that wash ashore and the stories they tell, and all number of others who have made their lives around the sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the specifics of these livelihoods and their rich histories and traditions, Wyl Menmuir captures the universal human connection to the ocean’s edge. Into this seductive tapestry Wyl weaves the story of \u003cb\u003ehow the sea has beckoned, consoled and restored him\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Draw of the Sea \u003c\/i\u003eis a meaningful and moving work into \u003cb\u003ehow we interact with the environment\u003c\/b\u003e around us and how it comes to\u003cb\u003e shape the course of our lives\u003c\/b\u003e. As unmissable as it is compelling, as profound as it is personal, this \u003cb\u003emust-read book\u003c\/b\u003e will delight anyone familiar with the intimate and powerful pull which the sea holds over us.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128877220018,"sku":"9780711273979","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780711273979_528727fa-551c-4d9a-8320-47298d4df28a.jpg?v=1786014839"},{"product_id":"9780711289246","title":"The Heart of the Woods","description":"\u003cp\u003eJust as a parent leaves a legacy to their child, a tree leaves a legacy to its surroundings. A deep and explorative companion piece to the Roger Deakin Award-winning \u003ci\u003eThe Draw of The Sea\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout history, trees have determined the tools we use, the boats we build, the stories we tell about the world and ourselves, the songs we sing, and some of our most important rituals. As such, our lives are intertwined with those of the trees and woodlands around us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this journey deep into the woods, Wyl Menmuir travels the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland to meet the people who plant trees, the ecologists who study them, those who shape beautiful objects and tools from wood, and those who use them to help others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWyl also explores how our relationship with trees is enduring, now and in the future – what we get out of spending time around trees, the ways in which our relationship with them has changed over time, and the ways in which our future is interconnected with theirs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten in close collaboration with makers, crafters, bodgers, and woodsmen and women in order to better understand the woods they know so well, the joys and frustrations of working with a living material, and the stories of their craft and skills, \u003ci\u003eThe Heart of The Woods \u003c\/i\u003ewill delight anyone who enjoys walking among the trees, and anyone who, when lost, has found themselves in the woods.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapters include:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWOODLAND PLANTER: A woodland in becoming and an ancient yew grove on the border of North Wales and England\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRITUAL WEAVER: Willow coffin making in Cornwall\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWOODLORE GATHERER: Science among the trees at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHEARTWOOD CARVER: Among the bodgers in a field outside Cambridge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOAT BUILDER: A woodland community in the heart of Glasgow’s former docklands\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLANDSCAPE SHAPER: Re-wilding the Scottish Highlands and an organised trespass in Devon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWISH WEARER: The clootie well at Munlochy on The Black Isle, Scottish Highlands, a family tree on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and the tree at Sycamore Gap, Northumbria\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFOREST BATHER: Swimming at Swallowship Pool, Devil’s Water, and Letah Woods Northumberland\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMYTH WALKER: Walks in the fictional woods at Wenlock Edge, Shropshire\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWAY FOLLOWER: Traditional carpentry in Takayama, Japan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFIRE LIGHTER: The stories we find among the flames and embers, Ennistymon, Ireland \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSOUND CREATOR: A pub on Ireland’s west coast and a guitar-builder in North Wales \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAPPLE WAILER: Wassailing in Cornwall\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTREE WORSHIPPER: An ancient yew grove in North Wales\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685876081013,"sku":"9780711289253","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":44581241651378,"sku":"9780711289246","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780711289253.jpg?v=1792599098"},{"product_id":"9781784632335","title":"Fox Fires","description":"A lost girl and a sprawling map of an unsettling city.Wren Lithgow has followed her concert pianist mother around the cities of Europe for almost two decades. When they arrive in the mysterious city-state of O, where Wren was conceived during a time of civil war, she resolves to find man she believes is her father.As the city closes in around her, Wren gives herself over to a place of which she understands nothing, but to which she feels a profound connection, in a story of the watchers and the watched, the ways in which we conceive of home and, finally, the possibility of living on our own terms.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56304118137205,"sku":"9781784632335","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784632335_e7ba669d-bd58-4bc6-bc7c-cc665729e61b.jpg?v=1786025696"},{"product_id":"9781784630485","title":"The Many","description":"Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016Observer Best Fiction of 2016Den of Geek Top Books of 2016Timothy Buchannan buys an abandoned house on the edge of an isolated village on the coast, sight unseen. When he sees the state of it he questions the wisdom of his move, but starts to renovate the house for his wife, Lauren to join him there.When the villagers see smoke rising from the chimney of the neglected house they are disturbed and intrigued by the presence of the incomer, intrigue that begins to verge on obsession. And the longer Timothy stays, the more deeply he becomes entangled in the unsettling experience of life in the small village. Ethan, a fisherman, is particularly perturbed by Timothy’s arrival, but accedes to Timothy’s request to take him out to sea. They set out along the polluted coastline, hauling in weird fish from the contaminated sea, catches that are bought in whole and removed from the village. Timothy starts to ask questions about the previous resident of his house, Perran, questions to which he receives only oblique answers and increasing hostility. As Timothy forges on despite the villagers’ animosity and the code of silence around Perran, he starts to question what has brought him to this place and is forced to confront a painful truth. The Many is an unsettling tale that explores the impact of loss and the devastation that hits when the foundations on which we rely are swept away.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305025515893,"sku":"9781784630485","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784630485_dc02f1aa-bb29-433a-80d8-761c99d2bce4.jpg?v=1786025682"},{"product_id":"9780711289307","title":"The Spirit of Stone","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the lonely heights of mountains to the womblike depths of caves, stone has always drawn us in. In \u003ci\u003eThe Spirit of Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, Wyl Menmuir explores the many ways in which rock and earth form part of our identities, histories, and futures. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross Britain and Ireland, rock is everywhere beneath our feet, shaping not only our landscapes but also our imaginations and the ways we live together. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoving across these lands, Wyl Menmuir’s essays combine \u003cb\u003etravelogue\u003c\/b\u003e,\u003cb\u003e social history\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003ememoir\u003c\/b\u003e, bringing together\u003cb\u003e interviews\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003efolklore\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003epersonal encounters \u003c\/b\u003ewith the landscapes themselves. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom sacred monuments to modern sculpture, this book reveals how stone grounds us, challenges us, and inspires us, such as:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMountains and caves\u003c\/b\u003e as places of pilgrimage, danger, refuge, and wonder. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eAncient pathways\u003c\/b\u003e and\u003cb\u003estone circles\u003c\/b\u003e that leave traces of our ancestors written into the land. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMarks and monuments\u003c\/b\u003e, from Neolithic carvings to contemporary sculpture, art that endures across centuries. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eEveryday stone,\u003c\/b\u003e for example the quarries, buildings and raw materials that underpin our daily lives. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Spirit of Stone\u003c\/i\u003e follows on from \u003ci\u003eThe Draw of the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Heart of the Woods\u003c\/i\u003e, completing a trilogy of\u003cb\u003e explorations into our relationship with place\u003c\/b\u003e. Where the first two books took readers to the water’s edge and into the forest, this book journeys into the landscapes of rock, stone and earth, reflecting on how they continue to define us. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eResonant with the work of Robert Macfarlane, Kathleen Jamie and Peter Ross, yet strikingly original in its breadth and vision, \u003ci\u003eThe Spirit of Stone \u003c\/i\u003eis a \u003cb\u003eprofound meditation on belonging, endurance, and our shared human story written in stone.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56368137994613,"sku":"9780711289307","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682818367861,"sku":"9780711289314","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780711289307_80eec3fe-989f-49e7-91b7-f52153fae34d.jpg?v=1792511759"},{"product_id":"seaworthy","title":"Seaworthy","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn an attempt to feel less adrift in the world, Wyl Menmuir buys and restores a neglected wooden boat with a plan to restore and sail it from his home in Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly, across thirty miles of open ocean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's a quest – a foolhardy one, some say. Though a keen sailor, Wyl has no experience restoring boats, nor of oceanic crossings, let alone in a sixteen-foot dinghy that has seen better days. And the quest itself is far broader than making the vessel seaworthy again and reaching Scilly – he hopes to bring himself back onto an even keel too, able to function once again at a time of uncertainty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFull of warmth, honesty and jeopardy, \u003ci\u003eSeaworthy \u003c\/i\u003eis in part a book about the ways in which we try to fix ourselves when we are mentally unmoored, and in part about the value of using our hands and involving ourselves more fully in the world of things. It is a thoughtful adventure into good mental health and a timely reminder about the value of creativity to help us work out our place in a changing world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502067032437,"sku":"9781037412622","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-wyl-menmuir.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}