Two Lights: Walking through Landscapes of Loss and Life

by James Roberts

'We spend most of our waking lives staring at bright lights, ignoring the half-lit and shadowed spaces surrounding us. We pay little attention to dawn and dusk, that band of half light that constantly moves across the surface of the earth, in some places lasting only a few minutes, in others weeks. This time of transformation has been the source of countless human rituals, providing roots for our sense of mystery and spirituality ...'

Two Lights is extraordinary debut from new nature writer, interweaving landscape, wildlife and travel writing as well as science and memoir.

Genres: Nonfiction, Natural History, Nature

260 pages, Hardcover

Published March 2, 2023

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Screens dominate our lives these days. A tiny beep and we are picking up these tiny miracles of modern technology and seeing why it needs our attention this time. This draw of the bright LED lights is steadily diminishing our attention span and ability to pay attention to the things that surround us.

Dawn moves at about 1000 miles an hour across the land at the equator and slows the closer you get to the poles. Knowing when the light would fade and when it would return the following day was hugely important to people. I have a thing for sunsets. If the sky looks good then I head out to a favourite spot to watch the sun disappear over the horizon. I find it a magical time.

There is something about the twilight that allows the past to slip into view more clearly, the way that this day has slipped over the horizon with its tail still visible.

James Roberts will head out to his garden in the summer at 4 am to watch the stars fade as the sun begins to rise. As the light increases, the birds begin to wake, singing to celebrate the dawn, rooks launching into the air to survive another day. He needs those few minutes in the morning or evening each day for his own internal daily reset.

The book is full of his keen observations of the world around him, whether he is searching for curlews at dusk, walking across a field as the building storm turns the sky to hammered lead. He sits in the boughs of an old yew watching the sun melt the frost away or seeing a raven and a peregrine spar. Aside from these observations, are his thoughts on his family and the challenges that he has to deal with recently and he thoughts on the bleak outlook for the wildlife of his local patch.

Stories twist and turn like memories. They sometimes shift places or bubble out of nowhere.

This is two books deftly blended into one, Firstly it is a look back at his past as he recounts how he discovered the abundance of wildlife on one of his first trips abroad and the pain he feels in not being able to see that same abundance in his home country of Wales. The second half is his reflections on his life at the time he was writing this and as his wife goes through cancer treatment. He is open and vulnerable about his feelings all the way through that I felt that I was reading his very personal diaries. Roberts has such a way with words and this is such a beautifully written book. 4.5 stars

[Katrina Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Roberts transforms his fear for the decline of biodiversity and loss of wild spaces into a grateful, awed hymn to the natural world. His honesty and empathy were moving. His descriptions are of slow, calming moments. I feel less alone in my eco-anxiety and fears having read this.
I enjoyed the pace, chapter titles and the ink art.

[Shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely, contemplative book on loss, landscape, and nature—with a bit of hope in there too.