Hermit: A memoir of finding freedom in a wild place

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Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Through conversations with other hermits across the world, Fitton sheds light on an extraordinary and misunderstood way of living which has survived into the 21st century - from monks, to hikikomori, and the often ignored female hermit. A blend of memoir, nature writing and a re-examination of women throughout history who have sought solace in solitude, Jade Angeles Fitton has written a stunning and original book about loss, love and overcoming one's demons.

My experience as a hermit – a loner, a recluse – has been life-changing and I want to encourage others to see solitude, particularly female solitude, in a more positive light: one that has the potential to connect us more intimately with the natural world, to heal our past life and enhance our future. It’s a place where the skylarks, puffins and herring gulls outnumber the humans, where “the night sky is gin-clear”. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. Originally wracked by fear, Jade soon realises that he was the thing that kept her on edge, not their isolated home. The definition of Hermit isn't so much the sticking to the constraints of a 'religious practice' but, infact, epitomised by the desire to isolate oneself from the myriad of societal constraints, and sadly the people that can make life toxic.

It is clear that the abusive experience she had drove her to solitude, but it’s also clear she was also drawn to the country because it was all she knew and it helped her reconcile herself with the losses from her childhood. Once it was cleared, I showed the manuscript to people who were closest to me: my mum, my dad, my sister and my husband. Highly recommended for anyone interested in exploring their own experiences of isolation; and for lovers of wildlife and nature. As Jade transforms through this experience, becoming one with the landscape that surrounds her, we as reader find ourselves transforming alongside her. Written with often startling beauty, Hermit is an intimate account of the healing power of solitude.

Tristan Gooley This distinctive, alluring memoir, reminiscent of The Outrun by Amy Liptrot, relates how Fitton slowly learns to live alone and celebrate solitude in the natural world.I was conscious of laying out the defining moments of the relationship and how those moments led to me being in this barn in the middle of nowhere—but no more than that.

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. Still, even knowing that, I was not prepared for how comforting and simultaneously uncomfortable it was to read.However, I found the editing of it, and having to keep going back to that point in my life, incredibly difficult. Bought as an audiobook as I believed that the story was about someone living as a hermit who was sharing their experiences.

I’d written a short piece for The Guardian about being a modern-day hermit while having the experience of living alone in remote locations and loving it. I worried that by simply having such an ambition I would be setting myself up to fail (I worry a lot! She realises that home doesn't exist within walls, but within the landscape of her childhood home county. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. Compton said: “I’m so pleased to be publishing Hermit, a passionate memoir about the push and pull of solitude and society.

Jade talks very honestly and often shockingly about her abusive relationship from the start of the book, which I found painful to read (perhaps her writing is too good for comfort).