> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 19 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473598645
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

Ponies At The Edge Of The World

On nature, belonging and finding home




A beautiful memoir of one woman's search for belonging on the islands of Shetland.

'Uplifting and moving' BBC RADIO 2

'Striking' THE TIMES

'A meditation on connection between humans and animals, and the homes we make in wild places. I was completely immersed' KATHERINE MAY, author of Wintering

Catherine Munro transforms her life when she moves to Shetland to study the hardy ponies who call this archipelago home. Over the course of her first year, she is welcomed into the rhythms and routines that characterise life at the edge of the world.

When faced with personal loss, Catherine finds comfort and connection in the shared lives of the people, animals and wild landscapes of Shetland. 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.

  • Published: 19 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473598645
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

About the author

Catherine Munro

Catherine Munro is an anthropologist in human-animal relationships, with a special interest in the people and ponies of Shetland. Catherine lives in Shetland with her young family and loves exploring the landscapes and sharing her experiences through her writing and work as a tour guide. The Ponies at the Edge of the World is her first book.

Praise for Ponies At The Edge Of The World

'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

'Poetic and generous'

Times Literary Supplement

'Uplifting and moving'

BBC Radio 2

'An unforgettable portrait of a sense of place'

Jim Crumley, author of THE NATURE OF SPRING

'Striking'

The Times

'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

'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

'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

'A thoughtful appeal for us to re-examine our ideas of community and our relationship with the wild'

The Observer