Overview

Doubling Back is a fascinating and moving account of walking in the footsteps of others. In 1952 Linda Cracknell's father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. Fifty years later Linda retraces that fateful journey, following the trail of the man she barely knew. This collection of walking tales takes its theme from that pilgrimage. The walks trace the contours of history, following writers, relations and retreading ways across mountains, valleys and coasts formerly trodden by drovers, saints and adventurers. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past through particular places. This book celebrates life, family, friendship and walking through landscapes richly textured with stories. Doubling Back is a masterwork of travel writing in the vein of Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin, lyrical, poignant, and with stunning descriptions of the landscapes Linda Cracknell leads us through. Linda Cracknell won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story competition, and was shortlisted for the Scottish First Book Award for her story collection Life Drawing (Neil Wilson Publishing, 2000) and the Robin Jenkins Literary Award for an early draft of this book. Her second story collection A Searching Glance was published by Salt in 2008. Her debut novel Call of the Undertow was published to great acclaim in 2013, and a novella, The Other Side of Stone with Taproot Press, followed in March 2021. www.lindacracknell.com

Full Product Details

9780956245342

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Cracknell wonderfully explores the strange durability of the paths that we make in our lives, in our dreams and after our deaths.' -- Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways 'There is not a step taken in this book that does not engage... To walk with Linda Cracknell is to explore landscape and memory... It is to be enriched by the compulsions of a lifetime.' -- Tom Pow '...a winning combination of memoir, travelogue and literary meditation' -- Daily Mail 'With Cracknell's writing you don't so much see the landscape as feel it.' -- Scotland on Sunday 'Of all the current crop of excellent new Nature Writers Linda Cracknell is probably the most physically present to the reader... Refreshing, lovely, fun: good walking and good writing.' -- Sara Maitland

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available