Length7h 26m
About this audiobook
A National Bestseller
“A modern classic, one we very much need right now.” –George Saunders
From the acclaimed author of The Shepherd’s Life, a magical work of nonfiction in which James Rebanks reflects on a life-changing summer spent on a remote island off the coast of Norway, where his only companion was an old woman who practiced the ancient tradition of collecting eiderdown from birds that nest on this remarkable landscape each year
We are all in need of lights to follow.
One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on.
Back at home, Rebanks couldn’t stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly—and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly: her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island.
This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold.
Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not what he had previously thought. What began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.4 (7.1K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreScience and Nature, History, Biography and Memoir
Length7 hrs 26 mins
Narrated byBryan Dick
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJun 24, 2025
LanguageEnglish
More from James Rebanks
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
LiftoffEric Berger9h 4m4.6 (9.5K)$29 · $0.00
Distant SkiesMelissa A. Priblo Chapman12h 39m4.7 (379)$23
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
The Story of BirdsSteve Brusatte11h 49m4.6 (401)$29 · $0.00
Black Earth WisdomLeah Penniman11h 54m4.6 (577)$8 · $0.00
Crystals for BeginnersKaren Frazier3h 49m4.5 (45.6K)$20
What If? 10th Anniversary EditionRandall Munroe7h 29m4.5 (41.4K)$23
Total Cat MojoJackson Galaxy10h 13m4.5 (8.4K)$23 · $0.00
Earth at NightNational Aeronautics and Space Administration2h 26m4.7 (196)$1 · $0.00
My Life Among the UnderdogsTia Torres5h 51m4.5 (4K)$24 · $0.00
What It Takes to Save a LifeKwane Stewart6h4.6 (556)$24 · $0.00
Pastoral SongJames Rebanks8h 35m4.5 (12K)$26 · $0.00
How Stella Learned to TalkChristina Hunger7h4.5 (10.9K)$24 · $0.00
Craig & FredCraig Grossi8h 6m4.5 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Celebrating BirdsNatalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez6h 47m4.6 (330)$24 · $0.00
WildingIsabella Tree12h 22m4.5 (13.4K)$23
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
The Complete Dog Training, Care, & Health GuideDr. Olivia Grace7h 22m4.8 (44)$10 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m4.7 (589)$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$1.99 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$1.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m4.7 (9.7K)$28 · $0.00
Defying JihadEsther Ahmad8h 50m4.7 (4.8K)$20
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m4.7 (2.2K)$17
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m4.8 (179)$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
Scandal Between the Sheets & Stranded with the Tempting StrangerBrenda Jackson9h 22m4.8 (141)$24 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (384)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
Southern WomenEditors of Garden and Gun8h 25m4.4 (255)$26 · $0.00
On Brassard’s FarmDaniel Hecht12h 29m4.3 (788)$23 · $0.00
We Bought a ZooBenjamin Mee8h 14m3.7 (9.8K)$17 · $0.00
A Whale of the WildRosanne Parry4h 16m4.3 (6K)$20 · $0.00
The Last Fish TaleMark Kurlansky6h 20m4.0 (1.2K)$14
Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and JapanF. H. King10h 8m4.3 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
Animal, Vegetable, MiracleBarbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp14h 36m4.2 (136.3K)$33 · $0.00
To You We Shall ReturnJoseph M. Marshall III4h 53m4.4 (745)$14
Epic SolitudeKatherine Keith9h 14m4.1 (1.1K)$20 · $0.00
Christmas with TuckerGreg Kincaid5h 9m4.4 (2.4K)$14
Sea BeanSally Huband9h 53m4.1 (556)$29 · $0.00
High Tide in TucsonBarbara Kingsolver2h 48m4.2 (14.1K)$18 · $0.00
Of Time and TurtlesSy Montgomery10h 34m4.5 (5K)$29 · $0.00
True NorthAndrew J. Graff13h 37m3.8 (1.7K)$33 · $0.00
The Seven CirclesChelsey Luger, Thosh Collins7h 58m4.4 (927)$26 · $0.00
Returning to EarthJim Harrison7h 43m4.1 (3.3K)$17 · $0.00
Locally LaidLucie B. Amundsen8h 26m4.2 (2.3K)$20 · $0.00
The Wild World Handbook: CreaturesAndrea Debbink3h 15m4.6 (65)$15
Isatou Ceesay: Queen of RecyclingLauren Kratz10m$2