Ponies At The Edge Of The World: On nature, belonging and finding home

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I have newfound appreciation for Shetland’s remarkable animals after reading this. I also have greater awareness of my own connection to nature and the world around me. The Ponies at the Edge of the World is equal parts magic, moving, and pretentious, but overall, I enjoyed my time there and look forward to visiting this remarkable part of the world someday. At the Edge of the World is a 2008 documentary which chronicles the efforts of animal rights activist Paul Watson and 45 other volunteers, who set out in two Sea Shepherd ships to hinder the Japanese whaling fleet in the waters around Antarctica. The film won Best Environmental Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Director and Producer Dan Stone would later produce the first season of Whale Wars. It depicts what went on during this excursion, with clips of beautiful scenery, news clips, whaling in action, and life on the ship. I suddenly remembered the foals at the sale, the ones nobody had wanted, sold for less than the price of a takeaway coffee. What had become of them?”

Against Munro’s journey to understand the ponies is set her own desire to have a family. When tragedy hits it is the natural world and the animals that inhabit it that provide the comfort and hope she needs to move forward. I very much enjoyed this book. I was tempted by the cover and the blurb and when you read that a book has been written by a PhD student, you are pretty much assured of good writing. I wasn't disappointed. Catherine moves to Shetland as part of her research for her PhD, studying the relationships between animals and humans. This is a beautiful account of her time among the islanders, both human and animal.

Memories of books read long ago and relationships that ended return to haunt the narrator of this prize-winning Swedish novel when she is laid low with a fever. Often, they’re inextricably linked: a copy of Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy, for instance, is inscribed to her girlfriend, while a waterlogged copy of Birgitta Trotzig’s The Marsh King’s Daughter is all that remains of her friendship with former housemate Niki. The nonlinear narrative renders the protagonist both vivid and obscure – the perfect conduit for this compelling, uncannily precise meditation on transience. Uprooting It will get you thinking about your own encounters with animals and where your place is, the one that most represents ‘home’ and your own sense of belonging. It’s impossible not to reflect on this, such is the thought-provoking exploration of these themes by Catherine. It also got me thinking of my grandfather and his close bonds to farm animals and nature’s signs. Her overall descriptions of the land, sea and wildlife were fantastic and really set an image in the readers eye. Her honesty about the situations she found herself also shone through well. What I particularly loved was how she managed to get the very difficult balance of combining her own personal story, anthropology theory and her research in this book and create something that was extremely readable and enjoyable. Her combining of these different elements is really what makes the book it is and paints the overall idea that everything is a lot more connected and in tune with each other than we might think if we only stop to observe this.

A meditation on connection between humans and animals, and the homes we make in wild places. I was completely immersed' Katherine May, bestselling author of Wintering Intelligent in observation and precise and elegant in her writing, Catherine Munro shows how people and animals live and respond to each other, particularly in island communities like Shetland. She shows great insight into the way both the seasons and the sea's strong winds affect people in places like these' Donald S Murray, author of In a Veil of Mist Catherine moves to Shetland as part of research for her Ph.D., studying the relationships between animals and humans. This is a beautiful account of her time among the islanders, both human and animal.

Her research into the ponies, into their heritage and lineage, into the ways they are known, respected and loved by the Shetlanders that breed and care for them, illuminates the sheer strength of character and personality of both the humans and animals that inhabit the rugged landscape. This appears to me to be a particularly female approach (though there are of course also wonderful male writers who also engage in this way. Andrew Grieg and Robert MacFarlane spring immediately to mind. In 2015, Munro moved to Shetland to research a PhD about how we are shaped by our connections to animals and the landscape. The islanders’ lives have been intertwined for millennia with the smart, stoic ponies that thrive in this “land of extremes”, and over the course of a tough year, Munro learns plenty about how to live with nature and her neighbours. The book begins unconvincingly, but settles down into a thoughtful appeal for us to re-examine our ideas of community and our relationship with the wild. When faced with personal loss, Catherine finds comfort and connection in the shared lives of the people, animals and wild landscapes of Shetland. The Ponies at the Edge of the World is a heartfelt love letter to the beauty and resilience of these magical ponies and their native land. This is a stunning book on community, hope and finding home.

Her writing displayed an endearing vulnerability, especially when depicting pregnancy loss and her personal journey to find home. It was powerful, emotive stuff. The Ponies at the Edge of the World was best when portraying life in the small community and her assimilation into it. Her interactions with various animals were also touching and I smiled whenever puffins and otters were mentioned. I also liked her thoughts on the ways in which both people and animals are connected to the environment they call home and how both can ultimately suffer if they are removed to a different environment. One breeder talks about the importance of ponies finding the right work to do, explaining that different animals are suited for different roles, and she speaks of one pony needing to 'find herself'. It's impossible not to see Catherine's own time in Shetland as being part of the same process. This is such a wonderful book and I will definitely be reading it again to see what I missed first time round.

This book is a lovely, relaxing account of a year and more in the author's life, while she moved to Shetland to work on her PhD. She chose to study the island's ponies and how they fitted into the lives of islanders and nature of the island. The author, an anthropologist, transports you to Shetland with her descriptions of the landscape in beautiful language. A meditation on connection between humans and animals, and the homes we make in wild places. I was completely immersed in this remote landscape' Katherine May, bestselling author of WINTERING The author is not vegan and the book ties our past to our present more than our future --so the ethical questions fall short for our modern ruination. The passage about Yoda, the lamb's future, strikes this vegan reader as violent, harsh, and sad --although the author's decision between her available choices for him makes sense. And, at least, he will be allowed some years alive. Catherine Munro is living in Aberdeen, lurching from temporary job to temporary job, the stress of not knowing if she can pay the bills gradually eroding her spirit and soul. Eventually, her application to study for a doctorate is successful and she travels to the Shetland Island to study the eponymous ponies of the archipelago.

The central themes of the book about relationships between people and their 'domestic' animals are absorbing, though I did think they got a little repetitive towards the end. As a birder I noticed some of the ornithological comments were incorrect and would have benefited from sub-editing. I'm not best placed to comment on the experience of miscarriage but that part of the narrative gave me some insight into that and recovering from it. Catherine Munro’s wondrous book is in a particular genre I adore, when it is done well. And this is. The genre is factual, often about history, the natural world, the arts – but what is special is that the author, however well researched and informative they are, observe their own involvement and engagement with the subject being written about, Munro, in my mind, joins with Olivia Laing and Helen Macdonald, in her ability to write precisely and beautifully about place, inform and educate, but in a very dynamic and engaged manner. She herself is changed and expanded by her subject matter, and her readers become similarly engaged and present in relationship with the subject Her book immediately felt relaxing, poetic and meditative. It made me feel like I was there too, with the wind blowing in my face and the skylark calls in the air. So many beautiful descriptions of nature. It’s as much about finding our place in the world, a place that feels like home, as it is Shetland ponies. Shetlanders describe the islands as being a part of them, as being in their blood, and that wherever they go in the world they will always call the islands home.”Catherine included many interesting facts. I had no idea the King of Denmark pawned Orkney and Shetland to Scotland. I also learnt of the distaste for which many Shetlanders view symbols of Scottishness! My favourite chapter was on Foula, an island off Shetland with thirty residents. It combined all the best parts of the book - remote island communities, poetic scenery and beautiful animals. I thoroughly enjoyed my glimpse into this amazing world. A meditative, exultant sojourn that illuminates the importance of working with nature, and of its importance in all we do and experience, and of living in the moment.' Polly Pullar, author of A DROP IN THE OCEAN I spend some time each year on Shetland, particularly on Foula which features as a whole chapter of this book, and Out Skerries which is often accessed via Whalsay where most of the other chapters are based. I found the observations about Shetland as a whole and specific islands to be perceptive. Any reader of the book taking to the description of Foula is recommended to visit, it really is as unique as it comes across. I had drifted, gotten lost, strayed from the paths and places I love. I felt Shetland calling me, and in this moment, I began my slow, imperfect journey towards finding home. The Shetland isles and Shetland ponies, the double-down dream, woven with admiration, the narrator's craft, and some healthy, clear-eyed insight. I damn loved it' John Lewis-Stempel, bestselling author of MEADOWLAND