Hermit: A memoir of finding freedom in a wild place

After her partner leaves, Jade is left alone in a barn, but with the help of nature, she finds herself and discovers the power of being alone. She explores the idea of hermitic living and questions its feasibility in today's world, but ultimately finds home in the landscape of her childhood home county.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 25 January 2024
Publisher: Cornerstone

I never imagined that the wind would carry me here, to a kind of isolation I have never experienced. There is never anything out here but my shadow, that no one treads on any more.

When Jade's partner leaves the barn they moved into just weeks before, he leaves a dent in the wall and her life unravels. Numbed from years in a destructive, abusive 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.

As Jade reacclimatizes, she considers what it means to live alone. Through conversations with other hermits across the world, Fitton sheds light on the myriad and often misunderstood ways of living alone: from monks to hikikomori, and the largely ignored female hermit.

Jade questions whether hermitic living is possible in an era of constant communication and increased housing costs as she finds herself financially unstable and itinerant. She realizes that home doesn't exist within walls, but within the landscape of her childhood home county.

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

Weight: 216g
Dimension: 198 x 129 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781804940525