Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Memoir of the Year Award

'Extraordinary' Daily Telegraph
'Breathtaking' Guardian

Skybound by Rebecca Loncraine is a book for anyone who has looked up and longed to take flight.

The day she flew in a glider for the first time, Rebecca Loncraine fell in love. Months of gruelling treatment for cancer meant she had lost touch with the world around her, but in that engineless plane, soaring 3,000 feet over the landscape of her childhood, with only the rising thermals to take her higher and the birds to lead the way, she felt ready to face life again.

And so Rebecca flew, travelling from her home in the Black Mountains of Wales to New Zealand's Southern Alps and the Nepalese Himalayas as she chased her new-found passion: her need to soar with the birds. She would push herself to the boundary of her own fear, and learn to live with joy and hope once more.

For fans of H is for Hawk and Wild, Skybound is a deeply personal memoir about learning to fly.

About the Author
Rebecca Loncraine was a British freelance writer. She held a foundation diploma in Fine Art, a first class undergraduate degree in history, and a doctorate in English Literature from Oxford University. She is the author of The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum published by Gotham Books in 2009. Born in England, she grew up on a hill farm in the Black Mountains of Wales, and it was there she returned after her diagnosis of breast cancer. It is also where - after her recovery - she fell in love with glider flying. Rebecca began writing Skybound in response to her new passion and she was just finishing the new book when, in 2015, she became ill again. Rebecca died at home in Wales in September 2016.

Reviews
Profound, euphoric and courageous . . . breathtaking . . . a shimmering parting gift to those still earthbound * Guardian *
A soaring gift of a book. A moving meditation on landscapes and the leaving of them, the freedom of travelling beyond our fears -- Owen Sheers
Makes you look at the sky and the land with new eyes . . . extraordinary . . . a celebration of wind and wings * Daily Telegraph *
Stunning . . . Skybound is so full of life - a love letter to nature and a hymn of love to the parental bond -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love and A Manual for Heartache
A valuable contribution . . . if Skybound is a manual for anything, it's for how to find lift on the Earth in the face of uncertainties . . . remarkable -- Mark Vanhoenacker, author of Skyfaring * Spectator *
If you're looking for beauty, love and courage, read this book -- Nicholas Crane
As thoughtful and insightful as it is courageous and inspiring * Sunday Express *
Astonishingly beautiful . . . a record of a life that was lived vividly and thrillingly and intensely . . . brilliant and unique -- Niall Griffiths, author of Grits
This beautiful book transformed the way I see the sky . . . fascinating -- James Macdonald Lockhart, author of Raptor
Profound and exquisitely written -- Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An Elemental Journey
A life-affirming memoir * Radio Times *
Proves that one can soar above the fear of death both literally and in language of unsurpassed beauty . . . the book is about the sheer thrill of being part of the astonishing earth we have in common, written by an extraordinarily sensitive and gifted writer * Harvard Review *
I have never read anything like it . . . painted from a palette of courage, honesty and moments of great beauty -- Jim Crumley
A poetic as it is inspirational * New Statesman *


Awards
Short-listed for Edward Stanford Travel Memoir of the Year Award 2019 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781447273875
Author Rebecca Loncraine
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 230g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 130mm * 25mm