'Remarkable'OBSERVER

'Deeply profound... this is no ordinary memoir' THE TIMES

'Astounding' ADAM FARRER

'Brave and luminous' SARAH LANGFORD

'Mesmerising' POLLY ATKIN

'Beautifully written' YORKSHIRE POST

'Steadfastly honest' GEOGRAPHICAL

A memoir of grief, nature and ancestry in rural Yorkshire.

I am setting out on a pilgrimage through an ancient landscape.

I will begin at my daughter's grave.

Paleolake Flixton is an extinct lake in North Yorkshire. Human occupation of the site dates back thousands of years, but today, all that is left is a watermark.

Wendy Pratt brings readers on a pilgrimage around its periphery, to locations that have acted as journey markers in her own life. While traversing forests and fenland, she finds refuge in nature.

The Ghost Lake is a lyrical meditation on local history, changing landscapes, and the lives and legacies of rural working-class people.

A memoir of grief, nature and ancestry in rural Yorkshire

About the Author

Pratt is a poet, author, editor and workshop facilitator living and working on the North Yorkshire coast, where she grew up. She is the author of five collections of poetry. Her latest collection When I Think of My Body as a Horse (Smith|Doorstop Books) won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet award in 2021. She is the founder and editor in chief of Spelt Magazine, and runs courses and workshops at York Centre for Lifelong Learning.

Reviews

'Remarkable' OBSERVER

'Deeply profound... this is no ordinary memoir' THE TIMES

'Wendy Pratt has created a shimmering, liminal space of loss that lifts us up and carries us with such tenderness and beauty that we come out the other side transformed' VICTORIA BENNETT, ALL MY WILD MOTHERS

'A fascinating, haunting pilgrimage through a personal and collective past... a moving exploration through the ages, excavating clues as to what it means to be alive, to be human, to belong' JADE ANGELES FITTON, HERMIT

'A powerful exploration of loss, place, connection and self, every page running rich with poetic detail. I devoured it slowly, wanting to savour every word' ADAM FARRER, COLD FISH SOUP

'Both intimate and universal, Wendy Pratt's brave and luminous memoir reminds us of the healing power of landscape to connect us not just to the ancient people who once lived on the land we now call home, but also to ourselves' SARAH LANGFORD, ROOTED

'From the tender rituals of caring for her daughter's grave to her thoughtful exploration of nearby burial chambers, Wendy Pratt interlaces the strands of her life to form a moving memoir of finding belonging. The Ghost Lake invokes the generative power of setting your own creative path through life and illustrates the importance of attuning to nature' SALLY HUBAND, SEA BEAN

'A mesmerising and deeply sensory lyric memoir that will carry you with it as it journeys across and into the archive of the landscape, unearthing treasures in the debris of grief, difference and loss' POLLY ATKIN, SOME OF US JUST FALL

'Wendy Pratt uses her connection to her beloved Yorkshire landscape to travel back and forward in time, examining how we can honour our ways of thinking instead of being afraid of them, and how a self can be lost and found again' KIM MOORE, ALL THE MEN I NEVER MARRIED

'Beautifully written, haunting and deeply affecting... will resonate with readers in different ways' YORKSHIRE POST

Book Information
ISBN 9780008637415
Author Wendy Pratt
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint The Borough Press
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 270g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 17mm