Amy Liptrot has returned to her childhood farm in Scotland's remote Orkney islands, after suffering a horribly-gone-wrong life in London. Her London life spiraled out of control as she falls deep into alcoholism. She finally agrees to rehab (national health funded) and slowly works herself out of her addiction.

"When I first left Orkney, my friend Sean gave me a compass. I used to wear it round my neck at parties, and when people asked about it, I would tell them it was so I could find my way home. I left the compass somewhere one night, then I was totally lost."

But go home she does. To her family farm on Orkney with a large coastal grazing area called an "outrun". Slowly she adjusts to a gentler, slower life -- sans alcohol and discovers an new equilibrium.

Eventually, Ms. Liptrot ends up on the even smaller island of Papay. She gets a job working for the RSPCA counting corncrakes (an endangered ground bird) as well as, puffins and arctic terns. Her new life opens her eyes to the healing power of nature.

Ms. Liptrot re-discovers an interest in astronomy, as the island is one of the best places to see the stars with almost no light pollution and there are the occasional glimpses of the Northern Lights.

"I’ve swapped disco lights for celestial lights but I’m still surrounded by dancers. I am orbited by sixty-seven moons."

There is a memorable passage about the rare and beautiful noctilucent clouds. These clouds are invisible most of the year, but in the summer, in this far northern latitude, they catch the sun's rays in the last stages of twilight, as the ground grows dark. Then they burst into brilliant colors.

The first half of The Outrun was beautiful and fascinating, but by the second half, I found it repetitive with the author's "self help" observations. I must admit I skipped over much of the latter half of the book -- but greatly appreciated the totality of the work.

Ms. Liptrot is an exquisite chronicler of island life so near the Arctic Circle, with starkly beautiful passages on island life, sunsets, waves and even shipwrecks

The Outrun is a brave memoir, unvarnished and beautifully written. I closed the book picturing the author living her life -- strong and clean:

"I stride onwards… I am a lone figure in waterproofs walking the coastline, morning after morning, miles from anywhere, at the north of nowhere. But down here, inside myself, I feel powerful and determined."

A digital review copy was provided by W. W. Norton & Company via NetGalley
See all my reviews at http://www.bookbarmy.com

I didn't know much about life in Orkney but I am now dying to go! Beautiful memoir that will resonate with so many.

The Outrun: A Memoir by Amy Liptrot will be released in the United States on April 25, 2017. It can be preordered from American booksellers, or purchased from sites in the U.K. where it was published a year ago early in 2016. The American publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, allowed me to read an ARC of the book in return for a review. I enjoy memoirs and biographical writing, and this book interested me initially because it received excellent reviews in the U.K., and, more importantly, because it was partially set in the Orkney Islands, an archipelago of 70 islands off of the northeastern coast of Scotland. To quote the author who describes it quite poetically: "Britain is an island off Europe, Orkney is an island off Britain, Westray is an island off Orkney, Papay is an island off Westray...". I am actually an American who has visited the Orkney Islands and I found them breathtakingly beautiful as well as fascinating. They are full of nature from seal colonies to puffins, and, history from stone circles and the 5,000 year old Neolithic village of Skara Brae to a 12th century Viking burial tomb. The islands are distinctly Scottish, but are also Scandinavian at the same time due to their history. They were enchanting to me when I visited one June a decade ago. So, I was intrigued by a book which promised lyrical writing about the flora and fauna of the Orkneys and narratives of what it was like to grow up there and return as an adult. I was not disappointed in this regard--the descriptions of the terrain and wildlife were a joy to read. The novel also, however, has an aspect about it that is quite painful to read. The author writes of her alcoholism and addictive personality and how she came to terms with that. After growing up an Orcadian, she left the islands for the East End of London where, in her search for a new life, she lost her way and began to ruin her life. These sections of the book are honestly told in detail and are heartbreaking to read. Through rehab and AA, the author begins to reclaim her life and leaves London to find a haven in the Orkneys where she believes she can reclaim her life.

This book was a must-read for me because of the setting, the Orkney Islands, but I came away even more impressed by it than I thought I would be. Part recovery memoir, true, but Amy Liptrot writes beautifully about nature and her connection to it. I could see the islands through her eyes, and felt the balm of the freezing water and isolated winds.