A breathtaking mix of nature writing, memoir and travel, this is the story of the making and unmaking of a marriage, and the search for home among the elemental landscape of Iceland's bewitching Westfjords.
In 2008, on a week-long trip to a film festival in Iceland, Sarah Thomas was spellbound by the strange landscape she found herself in, a place whose midwinter full moon is brighter than daylight, where fierce storms shake iron-clad houses and northern lights pattern the night sky, where the meaning of the word for yes - ja - is imbued with ambiguity when spoken on an inbreath. A place in which, and with which, it is possible to think differently.
An immediate love for this country and a man she meets there, Bjarni, turns what was intended to be a short stay into a profoundly transformative half decade, one which radically alters Sarah's understanding of herself and the natural world. As her marriage unravels due to her and Bjarni's struggle to communicate across cultures, they decide to divorce, just as a tremor swarm heralds a major volcanic eruption.
Written in beautifully vivid prose, The Raven's Nest is a profoundly moving meditation on place, identity, and how we might live in an era of environmental disruption.
