Her overall descriptions of the land, sea and wildlife were fantastic and really set an image in the readers eye. Her honesty about the situations she found herself also shone through well. What I particularly loved was how she managed to get the very difficult balance of combining her own personal story, anthropology theory and her research in this book and create something that was extremely readable and enjoyable. Her combining of these different elements is really what makes the book it is and paints the overall idea that everything is a lot more connected and in tune with each other than we might think if we only stop to observe this. When faced with personal loss, Catherine finds comfort and connection in the shared lives of the people, animals and wild landscapes of Shetland. The Ponies at the Edge of the World is a heartfelt love letter to the beauty and resilience of these magical ponies and their native land. This is a stunning book on community, hope and finding home.

Catherine Munro transforms her life when she moves to Shetland to study the hardy ponies who call this archipelago home. Over the course of her first year, she is welcomed into the rhythms and routines that characterise life at the edge of the world. The author is not vegan and the book ties our past to our present more than our future --so the ethical questions fall short for our modern ruination. The passage about Yoda, the lamb's future, strikes this vegan reader as violent, harsh, and sad --although the author's decision between her available choices for him makes sense. And, at least, he will be allowed some years alive. The author, an anthropologist, transports you to Shetland with her descriptions of the landscape in beautiful language. Catherine moves to Shetland as part of research for her Ph.D., studying the relationships between animals and humans. This is a beautiful account of her time among the islanders, both human and animal.

A meditation on connection between humans and animals, and the homes we make in wild places. I was completely immersed in this remote landscape' Katherine May, bestselling author of WINTERING At the Edge of the World is a 2008 documentary which chronicles the efforts of animal rights activist Paul Watson and 45 other volunteers, who set out in two Sea Shepherd ships to hinder the Japanese whaling fleet in the waters around Antarctica. The film won Best Environmental Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Director and Producer Dan Stone would later produce the first season of Whale Wars. It depicts what went on during this excursion, with clips of beautiful scenery, news clips, whaling in action, and life on the ship.

This appears to me to be a particularly female approach (though there are of course also wonderful male writers who also engage in this way. Andrew Grieg and Robert MacFarlane spring immediately to mind. Catherine Munro is living in Aberdeen, lurching from temporary job to temporary job, the stress of not knowing if she can pay the bills gradually eroding her spirit and soul. Eventually, her application to study for a doctorate is successful and she travels to the Shetland Island to study the eponymous ponies of the archipelago. I had this on my wishlist and then when I did buy it I wondered whether I would take to it. In the event I found it a thought provoking and enjoyable read. Against Munro’s journey to understand the ponies is set her own desire to have a family. When tragedy hits it is the natural world and the animals that inhabit it that provide the comfort and hope she needs to move forward. Her book immediately felt relaxing, poetic and meditative. It made me feel like I was there too, with the wind blowing in my face and the skylark calls in the air. So many beautiful descriptions of nature. It’s as much about finding our place in the world, a place that feels like home, as it is Shetland ponies.

Books by Catherine

A meditative, exultant sojourn that illuminates the importance of working with nature, and of its importance in all we do and experience, and of living in the moment.' Polly Pullar, author of A DROP IN THE OCEAN This book is a lovely, relaxing account of a year and more in the author's life, while she moved to Shetland to work on her PhD. She chose to study the island's ponies and how they fitted into the lives of islanders and nature of the island. I suddenly remembered the foals at the sale, the ones nobody had wanted, sold for less than the price of a takeaway coffee. What had become of them?”