A burned-out nature writer gets a radical reset breeding ducks
Sheds dot the landscape of Fj忙r酶y, a tiny island in the Vega Archipelago in Norway.
Courtesy of James Rebanks
Some of us find relief from what James Rebanks calls our 鈥渄ark and chaotic world鈥� in physical activities, others in hobbies and various forms of entertainment. Reading is my favorite handy escape hatch, and these days I find stories about people who engage with the natural world and the critters that inhabit it 鈥� hares, hawks, crows, octopuses, ducks 鈥� particularly soothing. Rebanks鈥� 鈥淭he Place of Tides鈥� fits the bill.
The book is a departure for Rebanks, a farmer in northwestern England鈥檚 Lake District and a bestselling author. His previous books, which include 鈥淭he Shepherd鈥檚 Life鈥� and 鈥淧astoral Song,鈥� express love for the land where his family has lived and worked for 600 years. The books also express concern over the damage wrought in the push for cheap, mass-produced food.
鈥淭he Place of Tides鈥� initially finds Rebanks, after years of a 鈥渕anic, rushing-around life,鈥� as depleted as his farm was before he began to restore it. 鈥淚 could no longer see the point of trying to mend our fields when everything around us was so broken,鈥� he writes.
Why We Wrote This
Many of us fantasize about getting away to a remote island. For one writer, a summer spent helping with duck-breeding season on a remote island teaches him the importance of slowing down.
Rebanks felt he was losing touch with what was important and needed a radical reset. With the go-ahead from his remarkably patient wife, Helen, he arranges to spend 10 weeks on Fj忙r酶y (pronounced 鈥淔i-aroy鈥�), a tiny island in the Vega Archipelago halfway up the Norwegian coast, just below the Arctic Circle. He hopes that immersing himself in a slower, more thoughtful way of life will teach him where he has gone awry.
Years earlier, during a visit to the Vega Archipelago to learn about Norway鈥檚 conservation efforts, he was fascinated by a fiercely determined, independent older woman he met briefly. Anna M氓s酶y was one of the last practitioners of a tradition of building and protecting nests for eider ducks, and then harvesting the precious eiderdown after the mother ducks returned to the sea with their newly hatched broods.
In a letter, Rebanks explained to Anna the impetus behind his trip and expressed his eagerness to lend a hand. He is invited to join Anna and her assistant, Ingrid, for what will be Anna鈥檚 last summer working on the island. 鈥淭he Place of Tides鈥� 鈥� which takes its title from what the locals call Fj忙r酶y 鈥� is a paean to this inspiring 鈥渄uck woman,鈥� as these caretakers are called, and a heartfelt account of how Rebanks鈥� time under her wing profoundly changed him.
Anna, who was born in 1948, comes from generations of farmer-fishers and coastal gatherers who prospered in the 19th century from lucrative eiderdown harvests 鈥� 鈥渋slander鈥檚 gold.鈥� Unlike most islanders, she was unwilling to leave Vega for better job prospects in Oslo. Instead, she married, had children, and cooked for the local nursing home.
But when she was 50 years old 鈥� roughly the same age as Rebanks during his summer on Fj忙r酶y 鈥� Anna decided to revive an island tradition. She also wanted to rebuild the eider duck population, which had plummeted in the second half of the 20th century due to predators and the overfishing of the ducks鈥� food supply. During duck-breeding season, Anna left her two daughters in her husband鈥檚 care in Vega.
In simple storytelling cadences, Rebanks braids Anna鈥檚 story with vivid evocations of waves cresting like 鈥渨hite horses above the green-blue ocean鈥� and lashing rains that trap him, restless and homesick, for days on end in their small cabin, which sleeps three but has no running water. (There鈥檚 a compost toilet in a shed, and a generator they turn on periodically to recharge their phones and crank up the oven when Anna wants to bake. Ingrid鈥檚 husband, a fisher, occasionally drops off groceries from Vega.)
At the core of this tender, contemplative book are descriptions of the painstaking, repetitive work involved in cleaning out and repairing more than 100 nests tucked under barns, between rocks, and in huts, and then relining them with fresh, air-dried seaweed. 鈥淭his was Anna鈥檚 world,鈥� Rebanks writes, 鈥渁nd, once I tuned in to her cares and her jobs, there was a plainness to it that I loved.鈥� He found working alongside the two skilled women 鈥渟ettling and calming.鈥�
The importance of paying attention is one of many life lessons Rebanks learns. He notes how much of Anna鈥檚 time is spent keeping a sharp eye out for intruders 鈥� whether humans, hawks, minks, or seagulls 鈥� who might spook or harm the nesting ducks. 鈥淲e do not think of watching the world around us as work. Work is usually muscular and rushed at,鈥� he comments.
Another lesson concerns forgiveness. Anna, despite disappointments from the men in her life, doesn鈥檛 harbor regrets or grudges. On one of Rebanks鈥� calls home, his wife laughs 鈥渁t my being schooled on a daily basis about the flaws of men by two militant Norwegian women,鈥� he writes.
After reading Herman Melville鈥檚 鈥淢oby-Dick鈥� while on Fj忙r酶y, Rebanks realizes that he 鈥渉ad been a little too much like Captain Ahab, a little too desperate to catch my whale, and everyone else had been dragged across the seven seas behind me.鈥� His conclusion: 鈥淚 needed to listen more, slow down, and make space for Helen and my kids.鈥�
鈥淭he Place of Tides鈥� washes over readers gently, refreshing us with its moving portrait of a quietly purposeful way of life.