This memoir starts out so full of despair--an older couple in rural England loses their family farm that is full of memories, they lose their livlihood and financial assets and home, and the husband is diagnosed with a degenerative terminal illness all in one swoop. I was literally sobbing.

So they decide to go walking and wild camping along England's South West Coast Path (630 miles), surviving on the 40-something pounds a week in financial aid they received. It is, in short, amazing. The writing is so delicate and bluntly honest (how is it both?) and you can sense hope slowly dawning on them like a new leaf budding in spring. As they come to accept their situation--homeless, hungry, stinky, old, unwelcome, unable to participate in the society they used to be a part of--they start to let go of bitterness and fear and fully embrace reality for all it's worth. The transformation is beautiful.

This is one of the most inspirational books I've ever read. I hope that if I am ever in a situation as dire as theirs, I learn the grace that they have.