Enchantment by Katherine May

Let me start by saying I love Katherine May's book Wintering and it's one I've bought many times as a gift and recommend over and over to others. So I was delighted to see that she'd written another entitled Enchantment. 

Katherine explores how she has tried to rediscover a sense of wonder and awe, that feeling of being enchanted once again by life and the things in it. She opens by talking about the impact of the pandemic. I found myself crying. I hadn't been able to express my feelings about how I felt until I read her words:

    'And so when the old, familiar world came back again–slowly, haltingly, unsteady on its feet–I     barely knew what to do with it. I unlearned it too well.'

She goes on to talk about the ways in which she became reacquainted with enchantment, sometimes searching for it among familiar things and at other times exploring new avenues. I won't spoil it by telling you what these subjects are. Instead, I encourage you to read the book and go on the journey with the writer.

I give this 4.5 stars instead of 5 as I don't think it quite lived up to the joy that Wintering brought me, but it is nonetheless highly recommended, and I'd buy it purely to read the way the author describes her grandmother eating an orange. This jerked me back nostalgically to my grandmother eating a pomegranate - a memory I'd not thought of in years and one which warmed me.

This book is a tonic, something to hold close and dip into during times of need and when you feel disconnected from the world.