Can a tiny vehicle provide the space to rebuild a life? A beautiful,
fearless memoir of uncertainty, self-discovery--and van life.
'It was believed lightning would not strike a house that held a
thunderstone. And so these fossils were placed on top of clocks, under
floorboards, over stable doors . . . But there are some storms that
thunderstones cannot prevent.'
In the wake of a traumatic lockdown, Nancy Campbell buys an old caravan
and drives it into a strip of neglected woodland between a canal and
railway. It is the first home she has ever owned. It will not move
again.
As summer begins, Nancy embraces the challenge of how to live well in a
space in which possessions and emotions often threaten to tumble. She
masters the van's mysterious mechanics, but as empty passenger trains
rumble past inches from the windows, rain and grief threaten to flood
in.
Yet soon, Nancy's encounters with the community of boaters moored
nearby, and their lessons in survival off-grid, prove fundamental. The
wasteland burgeons into a place of wild beauty, as Nancy works to clear
industrial junk and create a forest garden. And as illness and
uncertainty loom once more, it is these unconventional relationships,
this anchored van, that will bring her solace and hope.
An intimate journal across the span of a defining summer,
Thunderstoneis a celebration of transformation; an invitation to
approach life with imagination and to embrace change bravely.
