Hermit

A Memoir of Finding Freedom in a Wild Place

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

When Jade's partner leaves the barn that they moved into just weeks before, he leaves a dent in the wall and her life unravelled. Numbed from years in the destructive relationship, she faces an uncertain future and complete solitude. Slowly, with the help of Devon's salted cliffs and damp forested footpaths, Jade comes back to life and discovers the power of being alone.

Through conversations with other hermits across the world, Fitton sheds light on an extraordinary and misunderstood way of living which has survived into the 21st century - from monks, to hikikomori, and the often ignored female hermit.

Lyrically written, this is an inspirational story of recovery, of finding home and of celebration of solitude in the natural world.

Jade Angeles FittonJade Angeles FittonPenguin Audio

Psychology

Psychology & Mental Health

Memoir

Heartfelt

Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Memoir Heartfelt

Critic reviews

A dreamy, beautiful book about the consolations of solitude. In Hermit, Jade wanders a sunlit, windswept, delicately drawn landscape of loss and longing, and in doing so finds the stillness at the centre of herself. Hopeful and open-hearted. (Cal Flyn, author of 'Islands of Abandonment')

A book of spellbinding brilliance by a writer of rare talent. (Tristan Gooley)

Written with often startling beauty, Hermit is an intimate account of the healing power of solitude. Though deeply personal, it explores universal truths about society and the human condition. A brave, brilliant and important book. (Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell)

Most relevant

I was spelllbound by the end, from such a bleak beginning too. I loved feeling immersed in the world Jade created for herself, and conjures so emphatically in her book. The colourful fellow travellers, the hermits whose stories we hear across the journey, make for a fascinating troupe lighting the way in this sensitive exploration of the ambivalence, ambiguities & consolations of solitude.