Local writer, Sophie Pierce is publishing a memoir which is set in and around the River Dart
You might know Sophie as the author of wild swimming guides – including the bestselling Wild Swimming Walks Dartmoor and South Devon (co-written with Matt Newbury).
Her memoir, called The Green Hill: Letters to a Son, is about the sudden death of her 20 year old son Felix, in 2017.
The “Green Hill” of the title refers to Sharpham Meadow, high on the banks of the Dart estuary, where Felix is buried.
The novelist Sarah Perry (The Essex Serpent) has praised the book, saying: “Sophie Pierce writes about the sudden death of her son Felix with an aching and gentle honesty. Her writing is illuminated by a remarkable attention to the beauty and consolation of the natural world, and by the wisdom and tenderness which has been so painfully acquired.“
The book celebrates the natural landscape and the role it plays in our lives and relationships, as well as looking at how we think about our own mortality. The Green Hill, Felix’s burial place by the River Dart, comes to symbolise the issues that become important in the journey of grief: nature, beauty, a sense of place, and the passing of the seasons.
The book is crowdfunding with Unbound; its publication is reliant on people pledging to buy the book in advance.
We are working with Sophie to help get the book published, so please support if you can; click the button to find out more…