Shortlisted for the 2012 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Dolman Travel Book of the Year

 
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To the River is the story of the Ouse…

the river in which Virginia Woolf drowned in 1941. One midsummer week over sixty years later, Olivia Laing walked Woolf’s river from source to sea.

In part a biography of this most fluid of writers, To the River is also a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape – and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

Along the way, Laing explores the roles rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature and mythology alike.

The result is a wonderfully discursive read, interweaving biography, history, nature writing and memoir. It’s a beautiful, lyrical work that marks the arrival of a major new writer.

 
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‘A haul of gems.’ Boyd Tonkin, Books of the Year, Independent

Buy in the UK: Bookshop.org, LRB, Foyles, Waterstones, Amazon

Buy in the US: Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Indiebound, Amazon

Listen: to an interview on Woman’s Hour

From the reviews...

‘This is Laing’s first book and, without wanting to sound gushing – the watery metaphor bug is catching – her writing at its sublime best reminds me of Richard Mabey’s nature prose and the poetry of Alice Oswald (there are parallels with Oswald’s muscular verse on the River Dart). Like these two, and John Clare before them, Laing seems to lack a layer of skin, rendering her susceptible to the smallest vibrations of the natural world as well as to the frailties of the human psyche.’ Jane Wheatley,  Times

‘Arrestingly beautiful . . . This is an uplifting book, which not only develops into a work of considerable richness, but as the river reaches the open sea, expresses its message of hope with increasing lyricism and uncluttered simplicity.’ Juliet Nicolson, Evening Standard

‘Olivia Laing has written a magical book. It is acutely alive, observational, redolent with pithy phrases and arresting images . . . By turns lyrical, melancholic and exultant, To the River just makes you want to follow Olivia Laing all the way down to the sea.’ Philip Hoare, Sunday Telegraph

‘Of Olivia Laing’s prose, we could simply say that words have a way with her and that her delight in language is at one with her absorption in the living world.’ Laura Marcus, Times Literary Supplement

‘Laing is a brilliant wordsmith and this is a beautifully accomplished book.’ Frances Spalding, Independent

‘A brave, distinctive, and deeply intelligent addition to that protean genre mixing nature, history and travel writing which is becoming one of the richest forms of contemporary British literature.’ Alexandra Harris, Literary Review

‘Olivia Laing is a new and thoughtful voice in the tradition of W.G. Sebald. I confidently expect it to be listed in this year’s favourite books.’ Joan Bakewell, Telegraph

‘The power of To the River lies in the quality of the prose, by turns lush and limpid. As Ms. Laing walks, birds turn in the air, fish mass in the waters, and thoughts of former travelers flit before her.’ Alice Albinia, Wall Street Journal