Polly Atkin spoke about her book: The Company of Owls, as well as her earlier book about Dorothy Wordsworth and ill health. Recovering Dorothy is about the Dorothy we don’t know – disabled, housebound – who makes her sick room into a garden for herself and her pet robin. Dorothy Wordsworth, during years of ill health at Rydal Mount, brought the natural world into the sickroom with flowers and plants. When she was no longer able to tramp the fells, she was able to connect with nature through the healing gifts of nature, as well as recollections of her previous life.
Polly Atkin's latest book: The Company Of Owls is a love song to the tawny owls that live in the woods above her home in Grasmere, which she calls her neighbours. Each night, they come down to her cottage at dusk, calling out as night falls – in particular a trio of owlets she watches grow from fledglings to young adults in 2023.
these incredible creatures, and a reflection on what makes them, and us, unique and distinctive.
The book is a call to find joy in unexpected places and times. It is a lesson in learning to listen – to really listen – in a world full of noise.
This was a very interesting talk and we're already looking forward to the next one in November.