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To the River

A Journey Beneath the Surface

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To the River

By: Olivia Laing
Narrated by: Kate Reading
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Over 60 years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore.

Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

©2019 Olivia Laing (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Art & Literature Authors Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Literary History & Criticism Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science
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What a great book! An unpromising subject woven into a fascinating tapestry of history, geography and canals. Off now to read some Virginia Woolf!

Superb, Scintillating

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This, to me, was a book about existance, death, and how we can find ways to be in this world that we are both destroying and have the capacity to save at the same time. It meandered, like a river, through Olivia’s own thoughts and experiences both during her walk and from other times in her life, the lives of Virginia & Leonard Woolf, Gideon Mantell, Simon de Montfort and Charles Dawson, and some extremely profound thoughts on life and death. 

I found it absolutely mesmerising, deeply moving and know I will be returining to it again and again.

I must also add that Kate Reading's narration was perfect.

A meandering walk through the heart of existence

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I really like this book. I’ve listened to it twice through. It combines a walk with a look at Virgina Woolfs’ life. The narration is great, and suits the story, it’s very melodic, a bit like river walking. The literary stories along the way are interesting and the descriptions of the landscapes are great.

A lovely meandering tale of life

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I was nearly put off by the negative reviews about the narration, I'm glad I wasn't. The reader has a fine relaxing voice, just has exact annunciation, nothing wrong with that!
A combination of fascinating history, a bit if travel. literature, nature. Enjoy!

loved it

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I loved the descriptions, the folk-lore and the history as the writer walked the river. The whole idea of walking the length of a river from source to sea, and cataloguing the natural history, the literary connections and the events that took place there, is fascinating. I shall buy a paper copy and read it for myself. A book to dip into….pun intended!
One slight quibble: the American pronunciations, “boooey” for buoy, “fertle” for fertile, and the long “…ford” at the ends of Seaford and de Montfort, where I would use a “fud”, did just mar this experience slightly. The reader is American; why not get an English actor to read this very English book?

glorious travel writing…odd pronunciation

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