joanne moir

What a delight this memoir is! Katherine May sets a goal to traverse the South West Coast Path in England and as she walks in all kinds of weather, we learn about her life-long difficulties with 'being different.' As we walk with her, we are introduced to the varieties of landscapes, flora and fauna that she gamely encounters and so beautifully describes. We follow her thoughts across her past and present as she comes to terms with a new understanding of herself as autistic. We learn how it feels to be overcome by too much external stimulation and how she has found coping strategies, one of which is to be in nature walking her way toward calmness. Filled with self-deprecating humor, she shares her interior journey to greater self-acceptance and her appreciation of her particular abilities. I recommend this to anyone curious about the human experience and/or who might want to know about the numerous walking paths in England.