Bookshop Talk: The Green Hill
Event Website2017, Sophie’s 20-year-old son Felix died suddenly and unexpectedly. The Green Hill is the story of what happened next; how Sophie dealt with this devastating loss, and the role the natural landscape of Devon played in her grieving. Sophie will be in conversation with ITV journalist and broadcaster Claire Manning, as well as reading from the book.
The Green Hill collects letters Sophie wrote to Felix after his death, alongside her account of the years after, into which she weaves poignant memories of his life. What results is a deeply moving, beautifully captured record of how – amid the rivers and rocks of Dartmoor, and in the sea off the South Devon coast – she managed to hold on to and nurture her bond with Felix.
The book is a celebration of natural landscapes and the role they play in our lives and relationships, as well as an examination of how beauty, a sense of place and the passing seasons can help us contend with our own mortality. Above all, the Green Hill is one woman’s story of navigating through trauma and loss to a fragile, complicated kind of joy.
