Time and Tide

An engrossing tour of our North Atlantic archipelago, Stafford has a historical X-ray vision which allows her to look through the surface of a given landscape and describe what lies beneath . . . Miraculous . . . If landscape writing is evolving, this book is a good indication of where it's going next * Scotsman *
Buzzing with surprising connections and brilliant cross-references. Shot through with tender delights and unexpected revelations . . . The equivalent of taking a series of refreshing walks -- Richard Holmes
In this evocative exploration of the landscapes of Britain, Stafford reveals a principle to discovering its delights. 'It is always worth pausing to see what might be there,' she writes. 'Before it hops away soundlessly into the shadows of the forest, or washes out to sea.' Poetic and profound, Time and Tide is wise, considered and full of surprises * Observer *
A fascinating book to be enjoyed in front of a cosy fire whiling away a rainy Sunday afternoon . . . taking in as it does Fingal's Cave, the drowned village of Capel Celyn in Wales, the Hebridean island of Barra, which inspired Whisky Galore, to the place where the first monkey puzzle tree was so named (Pencarrow in Cornwall) and even the wreck of the Spanish Armada off Streedagh in Sligo. You feel that you are there with Stafford, tramping across fens, buf­feted by waves along rugged coastlines or peering down iron mines to see the red ochre. Both literary and erudite . . . poignant and touching . . . Time and Tide is often very funny * Mail on Sunday *
The landscape of Britain and Ireland is steeped in literature, and Fiona Stafford is the best possible companion to unearth its secrets. Born in Lincolnshire and the daughter of an RAF father, she writes as if from the air, swooping down on the Fens, brick-making Bedfordshire and maritime Hull. Then there are the Lakes of Wordsworth, the solitary Hebridean islands, and a paean to red kites. A keen eye for trees and plants further informs this wonderful and personal journey. Compton Mackenzie, Dickens, Burns and Keats all make an appearance, always for the better. A moving elegy to writers and landscape * The Field *
A highly rewarding book studded with curiosities, surprises and exhilarating insights * Literary Review *
Consistently and continuously compelling . . . an invigoration to read and a pleasure to read, and reread, and return to -- PROFESSOR ALAN RIACH
Wonderful . . . Fiona Stafford unpeels layers and layers of Britain's landscape to reveal the stories within. A fascinating compendium of people and places and how they endlessly interact to change each other -- PHILIP MARSDEN
Stafford's acclaimed The Long, Long Life of Trees was a Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year. Her literary gifts are once again on display in this enchanting exploration of the ways in which the land and skyscape of the UK are constantly shifting. Following in the footsteps of John Keats, Celia Fiennes and Wilkie Collins, we journey with her from the Fens to the Humber, and from Cornwall to the north coast of Ireland, marvelling at red kites and red squirrels, monkey puzzle trees and the resilience of nature * Bookseller, Editor’s Choice *
This book feels utterly distinctive in the way it explores forgotten, hidden, out of the way places, their stories and lives. Each chapter was unexpected - in the places Stafford travels to, the stories she tells - and I loved that about it. Time and Tide is a fascinating and attentive exploration of how landscapes and their histories impact and speak to us. -- JAMES MACDONALD LOCKHART
Beautifully patterned and sustained . . . a masterclass in how we might open ourselves to 'the surprise of landscape'. There's an ethos of creative, independent-minded, Romantic questing that comes over very powerfully and gets to the quick of things. -- Alexandra Harris, author of THE RISING DOWN
An elegant meditation on permanence and erasure . . . Time and Tide transports the reader buoyantly from one time and location to another, offering new literary perspectives along the way. * Times Literary Supplement *
Beguiling, personal and picaresque. * Country life *
A beautifully written hymn to the constantly changing countryside. * Tablet *
Throughout Time and Tide, Stafford shows her readers how to focus on features of the landscape that the eye usually skates over. Alert to what she describes as 'cracks in the present, opening into worlds only just out of sight', whether these take the form of an ancient place name or a ruined arch standing incongruously in a farmer's field. Her method is to circle each of her subjects, pressing it from different angles and asking: how can the past and the present coexist in the landscape? Whose voices might we hear if we stop and listen? How can we nurture visions for the future? . . . Her art of tucking her subjects up her sleeve and drawing them out little by little is, perhaps, something of a risk: as one doesn't quite know what to expect until one plunges in, this book asks its readers for an uncommon degree of trust. Those, however, who put their faith in Stafford's skills as a writer of place - and of the out-of-place - will be rewarded with a book studded with curiosities, surprises and exhilarating insights. * Literary Review *
Startling and surprisingly soothing. * Geographical *
Coastlines, forests, fens and back gardens are the atmospheric settings for Fiona Stafford's elegant exploration of the British Isles. Brimful of wonder, and with a keen eye for a telling detail, she brings to life the stories hidden in the landscape. From villages submerged in reservoirs, Roman paving discovered under ploughed fields, odd place names, ruins in unexpected places and the flora and fauna that grace fields, trees and suburban back gardens, Time and Tide is a lovely look at what might not, at first, be obvious; there are clues everywhere, and she encourages us to pause and follow them. * Simple Things *