The Giant on the Skyline: On Home, Belonging and Learning to Let Go

‘A wonderful, wise, magical book… The Giant on the Skyline is really quite incredible.’ Rachael Lucas ‘Timeless and yet firmly rooted in time, magical and mysterious and yet earthy and sensual.’ Lily Dunn ------------------------ What is it that makes a home? What is a home without the roots that tie you to a place? What is a home when a family is split? Clover's eldest children are leaving home for university. Her husband Pete's work is in America. The only way for Clover and the younger children to live with him is to uproot, leave their rural life near the ancient Ridgeway in Oxfordshire and move to Washington DC. Forced to leave the home she loves and consider these questions, Clover sets out to explore the place where she lives, walk the Ridgway, understand a little of the history of her landscape and work out why it is that it is so hard for her to go. In doing so she paints a beautifully layered portrait of family, community and of belonging in a landscape that has drawn people to it for generation after generation. ------------------------ ‘A beautiful book, written in lyrical, liquid prose that seems to flow straight from the heart to the page.’ Sophy Roberts ‘Few writers I know have this intense intimacy, or such an immediately engaging effect on a reader. It really is magic.’ Lucy Atkins ‘Clover’s most profound and moving, and unquestionably her most soaringly beautiful…’ Juliet Nicolson Praise for Clover Stroud 'A fearless explorer of the human heart.' Elizabeth Gilbert 'Clover's writing is sensationally beautiful.' Laura Cumming 'Stroud's writing is knife-sharp, beautiful and profound.' Madeline Miller 'I love Clover Stroud's writing. It feels like she's mining for treasure, drilling down with lyrical prose, getting to the thing that makes us human.' Christie Watson