All Before Me : A Search for Belonging in Wordsworth's Lake District

£16.99 GBP
£16.99 GBP
In her early twenties, Esther Rutter experienced a severe mental health crisis whilst...
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In her early twenties, Esther Rutter experienced a severe mental health crisis whilst teaching in Japan. Confined to a psychiatric facility until her repatriation, Rutter's path to recovery truly began upon her arrival at Dove Cottage in the Lake District, once home to William and Dorothy Wordsworth.

Amidst the breathtaking mountainous landscape and steeped in the Wordsworths' legacy, Esther embarked on her healing journey. Much like the siblings before her, whose quest for Dove Cottage stemmed from childhood displacement, Esther sought a place of belonging and self-discovery. In the Wordsworths' lives and works, she unearthed an approach to self-understanding as nuanced as Freudian psychoanalysis: a desire to delve into the essence of existence through introspection, and a belief in the inherent value of ordinary human experiences. Surrounded by a community of interns, colleagues, poets, and locals, Esther forged lasting friendships and, ultimately, found love.

'All Before Me' is a captivating chronicle of the quest for self-knowledge during the transition to adulthood, interwoven with tales of the Wordsworth siblings at Dove Cottage. In the picturesque hamlet of Town End, birthplace of a cultural epoch that would forever alter our perception of the world, Esther discovered the genius loci that would sustain and ground her, paving the way for all that lay ahead.

Product Information:

Book ISBN: 9781783787951
Book Author: Esther Rutter
Book Format: Hardback
Book Imprint: Granta Books
Book Publisher: Granta Books
Book Dimensions: 224 x 144 x 35 cm
Book Publication Date: 2024-07-03
Book Pagination: 352 pages
Book Weight: 454g

Sherlock & Pages is a little bookshop with a big heart. We are based in Frome, Somerset, England and curate lists of books in the areas we are passionate about – landscape, nature, history, and heritage. In short, the conservation of all we’ve inherited and all we are responsible to pass on. We aim to inspire and be inspired, to form a literary culture of care and passion about this precious planet we call home.

This is a shop where you might find something you haven’t seen before, and we like to think we’ve got something for everyone. We choose each of our books with care and for a reason. This is because our physical store is small but beautifully formed, holding only around 1200 titles at any one time. We try and recreate the feel of the shop wherever we are online, to reflect our niche categories and personality.

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Our tagline is ‘Long Live the Hedgerows’ and our symbol a hibernating dormouse. If you want to support an independent with a unique character and which will share stories with you for years to come, then choose Sherlock & Pages. The world needs bookshops with soul, for they are ‘citadels of light.’

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