Sooo this woman can write about nature in my most favourite of ways... by not writing about it like it's nature. And the impressions she gave me of Orkney were multi-sensory, what a trip I had reading all about the islands, the weather, the wildlife and the sound of the corncrake. Somewhat conversely, Liptrot can also write exceptionally well about being young and part of a crowd in London. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if our paths crossed somewhere in East London a decade ago, but where I fell for the book was in the brutally honest, raw and open way she writes about her addictions and her recovery.
My one niggle, which sadly lasted throughout, was the loose use of time. I couldn't always place where she was, what was happening and when things related to other events. It left me a little disoriented, especially as the majority of the book was written in present tense. Perhaps this was deliberate to invoke the same sense of confusion she must have felt at so many stages in her journey, but it just left me wanting a timeline in the inside of the cover to refer to. Still, I think this will be one of my favourite books of the year... lovely.