A compelling storyteller, Colwell's 500-mile pilgrimage is rich with memories, myths and associations from the past. In this deeply poetic journey into an inner and an outer landscape, the natural world is often her only companion, powerfully evoked and brilliantly observed.

Caroline Lucas, Member of Parliament

The Gathering Place is a beautiful thing: like a warm crystal, full of light, reflecting and refracting and celebrating everything both inside and outside the book.

Charles Foster, author of Being a Human

In The Gathering Place, Mary Colwell is a candle of open-minded curiosity, and she reminds us that while clear answers are hard to come by, we should never stop asking questions.

Patrick Laurie, author of Native

The Gathering Place is sheer literary alchemy; Colwell's words are mica-spangled and penetrating.

Hannah Brooks, @anotherbloodybook, Instagram

An unforgettable story of heroes and villains, kindness and horror, holiness and wickedness, miracles, bizarre legends, lost souls, and eventually, solace in a troubled world. Not to be missed.

Michael McCarthy, author of The Moth Snowstorm

A rich tapestry full of myth, wisdom and humility, accompanied always by evocative musings on the natural world, enveloped in hope and sprinkled with humour.

Tiffany Francis-Baker, Resurgence