|
Juliet BlaxlandShortlisted for the Wainwright Prize 2019
Shortlisted for East Anglia Memoir of the year 2019 The Times Nature Book of the Year 2019 The iNewspaper Nature Book of the Year 2019 The Daily Mail Best Books for Nature Lovers 2019 Juliet Blaxland is an architect, a published writer, cartoonist and illustrator. She grew up in a remote part of Suffolk and now lives on the cliff edge of the easternmost part of England in a house known as the Easternmost House. Outdoorsy and self-reliant, as an army wife she is often alone, and when she is not out walking with her dog and observing the comings and goings of the natural world, she is to be found at her kitchen table, writing about the remarkable landscape, the sea, wildlife and shifting coastline where she makes her life. She is the author and illustrator of ten children’s books about a greyhound called Speedy, published by the Retired Greyhound Trust. Her cartoon series, Life in a Listed Building, was published monthly in the Prince of Wales's architecture magazine Perspectives, and won a prize at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She is also a prize-winning photographer. Her first adult non-fiction title, THE EASTERNMOST HOUSE (Sandstone Press, 2019) is a highly acclaimed memoir encompassing a year of life on the edge of England, meditating on nature, coastal erosion and the changing seasons. The house was demolished in 2019 and Juliet's follow-up book is THE EASTERNMOST SKY: Adapting to Change in the 21st Century (Sandstone Press 2021). For media enquiries please contact publicity@ruthkillick.co.uk. Follow Juliet Blaxland on Twitter |
Praise for Juliet Blaxland
Praise for The Easternmost House
'My reading slowed to a snail’s pace when heading towards the end of this. I simply couldn’t bear the idea of finishing it and having to leave Blaxland’s idiosyncratic company behind. Writing about the precariousness of life in a house on the edge of a cliff, she documents the natural world around her, and the gradual encroachment of the sea. A wonderful book by an extraordinary woman.' inews Books of the Year
'Destined to be a 21st Century classic. Just brilliant.’ John Lewis Stempel, Wainwright Prize-winning author of The Running Hare
'A meditation not just on coastal erosion but on nature and the seasons and the changing face of rural life' The Sunday Telegraph
"A marvellous evocation of the Suffolk coast. It made me want to jump on the next train out of London.' Andrew Gimson
'My book recommendation is The Easternmost House (vvvvv good) by Juliet Blaxland. Brilliant memoir about nature, landscape, food and the disconnect between town and country' India Knight
'Juliet's book is wonderful. She writes so magically about the wildlife and the ravishing undiscovered beauties of the Suffolk countryside and sea coast. She creates a world full of people and poetry, which we must fight to keep forever.' Jilly Cooper
'The Easternmost House is a glistening pudding stone of local history, country lore, anecdote, natural observation and old fashioned common sense, leavened with humour and touched with a gently mystical otherworldliness.' Richard Hopton, Country Life
'The Suffolk coast exerts a hypnotic power over writers. In 1956 George Ewart Evans published Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay…in 1969 Ronald Blythe published Akenfield. Now a new book is taking a look at East Suffolk life, looking forward more than back, to the end of a particular kind of existence. While in their books Evans and Blythe sought to capture the last memories of a pre-mechanised agricultural society, in many ways Blaxland chronicles what may be the end of the society that came after that...She continues to fight for this rural existence and for the local wildlife that she so charmingly describes. As recompense she lives in a landscape that has inspired not just writers but a whole school of painters and perhaps most famous of all, Benjamin Britten. Even when it has been swallowed by the sea, the art it helped inspire will survive, and Juliet Blaxland’s book The Easternmost House deserves a distinguished place in that company.' Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph
I feel like a stalker, but reading Juliet Blaxland's The Easternmost House, I got straight into my car and drove over to stare at her home. Her wonderful book describes living on the most extreme outpost of Suffolk's coast of erosion.' Janice Turner, The Times
'Certain chapters, especially in the latter stages of the book, and some of the stories set within the wider narrative, are pure brilliance. Juliet Blaxland’s account of a year in her house on the Suffolk coast is no nonsense and conjours images of sea and sky. I found myself smelling the saltiness on the air and hearing the wind whistling in from the east. She is humorous and engaging and her words a joy to read' Ben Eagle
A beautiful book, eloquent and evocative. Lyrical, poignant and witty, this book is a moving testament to a still enormously vibrant but vanishing time, place and way of life.' Maggie Craig
Prose that flows effortlessly with a wry turn of phrase at every corner. Plus, she's bloody funny. In The Easternmost House you read the sound of her voice, and so the book rattles along like a good'un.' Caught by the River
'The author writes beautifully about her life in this small extremity... a hymn to a simpler life, one lived more in tune with the rhythms of the natural world, with its wonders and its perils.' Country Life
'A heartfelt elegy in which Juliet Blaxland reveals how she savours every moment on the wild coast at her home atop a collapsing cliff top' The Daily Mail
'Both elegy and eulogy… Juliet ably achieves her aim of making the cottage on the cliff and its surroundings as familiar to the reader as it is to her…The Easternmost House is an excellent read.' The Dove Grey Reader, Book Blogger
'A fantastic book' Slightly Foxed podcast
'The book has an unpredictability I really appreciate, Blaxland seems to have taken the liberty of writing about only that which has left an impression on her. I wish all non-fiction writers gave themselves the permission to wield this power.' Candid Kelly, Book blogger
Praise for The Easternmost Sky
'A joy to read' Ben Eagle
'Thought provoking' Lesley Dolphin, BBC Radio Suffolk
'It has much to say, expressed with elegance and charm, about the countryside, country life and its threatened future.' Richard Hopton, Country & Town
Praise for The Easternmost House
'My reading slowed to a snail’s pace when heading towards the end of this. I simply couldn’t bear the idea of finishing it and having to leave Blaxland’s idiosyncratic company behind. Writing about the precariousness of life in a house on the edge of a cliff, she documents the natural world around her, and the gradual encroachment of the sea. A wonderful book by an extraordinary woman.' inews Books of the Year
'Destined to be a 21st Century classic. Just brilliant.’ John Lewis Stempel, Wainwright Prize-winning author of The Running Hare
'A meditation not just on coastal erosion but on nature and the seasons and the changing face of rural life' The Sunday Telegraph
"A marvellous evocation of the Suffolk coast. It made me want to jump on the next train out of London.' Andrew Gimson
'My book recommendation is The Easternmost House (vvvvv good) by Juliet Blaxland. Brilliant memoir about nature, landscape, food and the disconnect between town and country' India Knight
'Juliet's book is wonderful. She writes so magically about the wildlife and the ravishing undiscovered beauties of the Suffolk countryside and sea coast. She creates a world full of people and poetry, which we must fight to keep forever.' Jilly Cooper
'The Easternmost House is a glistening pudding stone of local history, country lore, anecdote, natural observation and old fashioned common sense, leavened with humour and touched with a gently mystical otherworldliness.' Richard Hopton, Country Life
'The Suffolk coast exerts a hypnotic power over writers. In 1956 George Ewart Evans published Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay…in 1969 Ronald Blythe published Akenfield. Now a new book is taking a look at East Suffolk life, looking forward more than back, to the end of a particular kind of existence. While in their books Evans and Blythe sought to capture the last memories of a pre-mechanised agricultural society, in many ways Blaxland chronicles what may be the end of the society that came after that...She continues to fight for this rural existence and for the local wildlife that she so charmingly describes. As recompense she lives in a landscape that has inspired not just writers but a whole school of painters and perhaps most famous of all, Benjamin Britten. Even when it has been swallowed by the sea, the art it helped inspire will survive, and Juliet Blaxland’s book The Easternmost House deserves a distinguished place in that company.' Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph
I feel like a stalker, but reading Juliet Blaxland's The Easternmost House, I got straight into my car and drove over to stare at her home. Her wonderful book describes living on the most extreme outpost of Suffolk's coast of erosion.' Janice Turner, The Times
'Certain chapters, especially in the latter stages of the book, and some of the stories set within the wider narrative, are pure brilliance. Juliet Blaxland’s account of a year in her house on the Suffolk coast is no nonsense and conjours images of sea and sky. I found myself smelling the saltiness on the air and hearing the wind whistling in from the east. She is humorous and engaging and her words a joy to read' Ben Eagle
A beautiful book, eloquent and evocative. Lyrical, poignant and witty, this book is a moving testament to a still enormously vibrant but vanishing time, place and way of life.' Maggie Craig
Prose that flows effortlessly with a wry turn of phrase at every corner. Plus, she's bloody funny. In The Easternmost House you read the sound of her voice, and so the book rattles along like a good'un.' Caught by the River
'The author writes beautifully about her life in this small extremity... a hymn to a simpler life, one lived more in tune with the rhythms of the natural world, with its wonders and its perils.' Country Life
'A heartfelt elegy in which Juliet Blaxland reveals how she savours every moment on the wild coast at her home atop a collapsing cliff top' The Daily Mail
'Both elegy and eulogy… Juliet ably achieves her aim of making the cottage on the cliff and its surroundings as familiar to the reader as it is to her…The Easternmost House is an excellent read.' The Dove Grey Reader, Book Blogger
'A fantastic book' Slightly Foxed podcast
'The book has an unpredictability I really appreciate, Blaxland seems to have taken the liberty of writing about only that which has left an impression on her. I wish all non-fiction writers gave themselves the permission to wield this power.' Candid Kelly, Book blogger
Praise for The Easternmost Sky
'A joy to read' Ben Eagle
'Thought provoking' Lesley Dolphin, BBC Radio Suffolk
'It has much to say, expressed with elegance and charm, about the countryside, country life and its threatened future.' Richard Hopton, Country & Town