Books & Audiobooks
We are in an era in which we approach our lives at a breakneck pace, constantly multi-tasking, with technology always at our fingertips. With that in mind, it was refreshing and somewhat jarring to read The Place of Tides by James Rebanks. This is a non-fiction book about a unique and specific story; it tells the tale of a woman who cares for eider ducks on extremely remote islands in Norway. She is adamant about keeping this dying tradition alive. The goal of “duck women” like her is to get ducks to nest in this most uninhabitable place because once the ducklings are born the nests filled with down are abandoned and the feathers available for collecting. Eiderdown is a very precious commodity, although it is the tradition and not finances that sparks this purposeful work. There are few people who keep up this work, and author James Rebanks joins Anna Måsøy, a single woman in her 70s on what is possibly her last season of eider care.
Rebanks is a farmer/reporter/writer who, having met Anna briefly a few years prior on a research trip to the area, couldn’t shake her and wrote to see if he could visit her again. Being a sheep farmer on a family property in the Lake District in England, Rebanks connected with the heritage and purpose of Anna’s work. She remembered him and invited him to come for the season. As Anna is now in her more senior years, she is accompanied by her friend Ingrid as well. The three of them boat out to a very remote island where they are dropped off, with all their supplies in tow, to stay three months. Living in a small cabin, with a generator for power, the three spend their days building up the nests prior to the birds arrival, then tending to the nests and keeping predators at bay during nesting season, and lastly, gathering the down and cleaning up the nests for the next year. They spend 70 days there; from this work they would gather enough down for two duvets.
Much like the tasks it describes, the book is quite slow. I found that challenging at some points but also remarkably beautiful. Rebanks describes rainy days spent listening to the radio, knitting, conversing and updating the nest diary. Once the ducks have nested protecting them from sea eagles, skua and otters becomes very important. Having researched images of eider ducks, I could envision these beautiful creatures making homes in this most remote and often unwelcoming place. Rebanks’ descriptions of the rocky shore lines and unending vistas are so gorgeous that Norway is now on my bucket list to travel to!
In living with Anna for this time, Rebanks comes to some soulful discoveries about her way of life, about the importance of continued learning, finding your purpose and taking true pride in your work. Anna’s story is also one about quiet environmentalism. She cares for these birds living in a world of changing climate and ocean pollution; part of her time is spent collecting the plastic and garbage that washes up on the shore line as it negatively impact the animals. Rebanks writes: “Anna’s example was simple: if we are to save the world, we have to start somewhere…Hers was a small kind of heroism, but it was the most powerful kind.” She is not an activist but most certainly a conservationist. Anna is a character of determination, passion and integrity and one that I will not soon forget.
If you enjoy this beautiful slice of life you may want to check out Rebanks’ earlier books, The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District and Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey.