Cacophony of Bone

Product Information

For Kerri there was to be one more change, a longed-for but unhoped for change. Cacophony of Bone maps the circle of a year – a journey from one place to another, field notes of a life – from one winter to the next. It is a telling of a changed life, in a changed world – and it is about all that does not change. This is a brilliant second book from a unique and deeply gifted writer who constantly renews our sense of the natural world and the landscape of the heart .' Cacophony of Bone is a telling of a changed life, in a changed world – but it is, too, about all that which does not change. All that which simply keeps on – living and breathing, nesting and dying – in spite of it all. Fragmentary in subject and form, fluid of language; this is an ode to a year, a place, and a love, that changed a life. Told month by month, in three parts, through diary extracts, poetry, essay and hybrid prose, its form reflects the time, and the place, that helped to mould it." At the beginning of each chapter before the very brief diary entries, which are short poetic fragments and thoughts, there is a text, a navigation of layers of loneliness, grief and gratitude, observations of birds and moths, planning a garden and planting of seeds, the importance of rituals, an appreciation of the companionship of another human being, the connection with amazing women she has never yet met and the incredible comfort to be found in lines of language, of the soothing power of words and the immense power and wonder of books. Two days after the winter solstice in 2019, Kerri and her partner moved to a remote cottage in the heart of Ireland. They were looking for a home, somewhere to settle into a stable life. Then the pandemic arrived and their secluded abode became a place of enforced isolation. What was meant to be the beginning of an enriching new chapter was instead marked by uncertainty and fear. The seasons still passed, the swallows returned, the rhythms of the natural world went on, but in many ways 2020 was unlike any year we had seen before. And for Kerri there would be one more change: a baby, longed for but utterly, beautifully unexpected.

This is a brilliant second book from a unique and deeply gifted writer who constantly renews our sense of the natural world and the landscape of the heart' KEVIN BARRY I’m definitely jealous of this new Cool Girl archetype as I couldn’t help but comparing the dates of the diaries to my own 2020. Especially as for quite a few specific dates in the past we have swam in the same sea and looked at the same Galway streets. I suppose it upsets me to read the wonderfully privileged account of somebody I would have seen in the queue for Kai while crying in my bedroom. Cacophony of Bone is ní Dochartaigh’s record of a year spent in an isolated stone cottage with her partner M in the strangest year in recent history. It is a symphony of memoir, nature journal, diary and musings of that year. Dreams arrive and motifs return, the days are spent reaching for meaning, walking them through, collecting and abandoning them anew. All that which simply keeps on – living and breathing, nesting and dying – in spite of it all. When the pandemic came time seemed to shapeshift, so this is also a book about time. It is, too, a book about home, and what that can mean.This glimpse into the nature of time is one of many moments of perception caught and shared in this generous, glowing book. Cacophony of Bone is structured as a journal, month by devastating month in a plague year, and its form glances at many additional antecedents. When the pandemic came time seemed to shapeshift, so this is also a book about time. It is, too, a book about home, and what that can mean. Fragmentary in subject and form, fluid of language, this is an ode to a year, a place, and a love, that changed a life. About This Edition ISBN: Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s ‘Cacophony of Bone’ — a circular ode to a year, a place, and a love that changed a life — is just-published by Canongate. The author’s wisdom is like water, writes Róisín Á Costello. Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma Complex Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures

Ní Dochartaigh is the author of Thin Places which was highly commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021. She has written for the Guardian, Irish Times, the BBC, Winter Papers and others. Two days after the Winter Solstice in 2019 Kerri and her partner M moved to a small, remote railway cottage in the heart of Ireland. They were looking for a home, somewhere to stay put. What followed was a year of many changes. While that book was challenging because of all it makes the reader feel, Cacophony of Bone was proof of a move forward, of a shift out of the rawness of her earlier existence and while still in the process of healing, clear signs of hope and progress and development. C acophony of Bone is a book that touched me deeply. It's so vital, so brimming with life and love, and ni Dochartaigh's singular, addictive lyricism' LUCY JONESI find myself searching for the words of others as a means to fill the holes that the actions of (other) others have left in me.

Canongate are the best publishing house around and I am so grateful for their incredible work on Thin Places," she said. "I’m so excited to work with Simon on Cacophony of Bone, a book that takes my writing in a new direction. I hope Cacophony might deliver a little light to any reader that encounters it along the way. I am proud to continue my journey with Canongate and so grateful to everyone that continues to make this possible; it’s a deep joy." Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman. However, minor gripes aside, this was a gorgeous look at the changing natural world in the year the human world (the unnatural world) stood still. I could hear about storm light and weather patterns and skylarks all day long. It really was beautifully written. I didn't realise until I was halfway through that I have the author's previous work Thin Places not only on my tbr but in my audiobook library - so I'll bump that up the list.Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration Cacophony of Bone maps the circle of a year - a journey from one place to another, field notes of a life - from one winter to the next. It is a telling of a changed life, in a changed world - and it is about all that does not change. All that which simply keeps on - living and breathing, nesting and dying - in spite of it all. What might it mean to focus on the sowing of seeds of hope in the face of such individual and collective despair? They were looking for a home, somewhere to stay put. What followed was a year of many changes. The pandemic arrived and their isolated home became a place of enforced isolation.

To action that will carry us far from what we deem as safe, and perhaps it is time to listen to that call.” Ritual finds form through the assumption that it is a means of really knowing something. Religious ceremony and personal rites of passage fill my thoughts. The gently, insistent act of repeating. How it creates equilibrium between the small and the vast, the seen and the unseen, the self and other, the part and the whole. We build myths (which are really just houses). Dwelling places built of the bones left behind by stories. We fill the gaps in the walls with ritual. We insulate it with objects. ní Dochartaigh writes in evocative, poetic prose that is quietly majestic. A spell and incantation of the best kind of magic; the ordinary, everyday. In diary form she notes both the personal and political. From the small: the changes of light, the flutter of a moths wing, the lighting of a candle. To the big: the injustice of the political and social crises, the grief and trauma of growing up in Ireland, the longing to be a mother, the birthing of hope.Raw, visionary, lucid and mystical, Cacophony of Bone speaks of the connection between all things, and the magic that can be found in everyday life' KATHERINE MAY Teeming with abundance even when it is filled with grief, and wholly open to the world around it…Unlike anyone else writing just now.’