Solitude: Memories, People, Places
By Terry Waite
4/5
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About this ebook
‘This is a thoughtful and sensitive book from a man who endured the fear and loneliness of captivity. Now, years later, Terry Waite explores solitude in its many forms.’
,Stella Rimington DBE, former Director General of MI5
‘No one is better qualified to write about solitude than Terry Waite, who spent nearly five years of his life in solitary confinement. His exploration of solitude – he calls it a saunter – takes him from his personal ordeal to the Australian outback, to the home of a former British double agent in Moscow, and beyond. His book will be of great value to those who have suffered from too much company or too little, or are interested in the phenomenon of being alone, which is not at all the same as being lonely. Terry Waite’s saunter through solitude is wide ranging, original, well written and (best of all) companionable.’
Martin Bell OBE, UNICEF ambassador and former war reporter
‘This is a wonderfully perceptive and engaging book. Terry Waite takes the reader deep into other worlds, both geographical and psychological, from which they will emerge enlightened and spiritually enriched.’
Ranulph Fiennes OBE, explorer, writer and poet
Some people long to find it, others long to escape it. But, whether we welcome or dread it, solitude is something we all experience in different forms at different points in our lives.
After enduring nearly five years of solitary confinement, in cruel and terrifying conditions, Terry Waite discovered that he was drawn to find out more about the power of solitude in the lives of other people. The result is this haunting book, in which he recalls his encounters with people who have experienced some very different ways of being solitary: among them the peaceful solitude of remote and beautiful places; the unsought and often unnoticed solitude of lonely people living in the midst of busy cities; the deceptive solitude of those living in the twilight world of espionage; the enforced solitude of the convict and the prisoner of war; and, finally, the inescapable solitude of those who are drawing near to death.
Through all these encounters, and through the memories and reflections they trigger in the author’s mind, we see how solitude shapes the human soul – and how it can be a force for good in our own lives, if we can only learn to use it well.
Read more from Terry Waite
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Reviews for Solitude
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Terry Waite, as many people will remember, was famous for being held hostage in Beirut for almost five years in the late 1980s. As envoy for the Church of England he was trying to negotiate the release of another hostage when he was seized. For the majority of his imprisonment he was held in darkness in solitary confinement, with guards instructed not to speak to him. Almost 30 years on from that experience, Waite continues to work through understanding what it was within him that enabled him to mentally survive his experience, and the premise of this book is Waite's attempt to marry his experience of solitude with that experienced by people from a wide spectrum of places and circumstances (excluding those who have chosen a solitary life for religious reasons, about whom he felt much has already been written).The book includes an intriguing cast of characters, including amongst others tough farmers who had chosen an isolated life in the Australian bush and the double secret agent George Blake. Whilst it read as a interesting travelogue of sorts, I don't think Waite successfully achieved his goal of reaching any enlightening depths on the topic of solitude. With Blake, for instance, he got caught up in his fascination with Blake's tales of how he became a double agent and whether he regretted that choice. It was certainly interesting to read, but it felt like the question of solitude was latched onto it as a bit of an afterthought to try to remain to topic. The same applied to many other stories - they were interesting for their own sake, but they really didn't get under the skin of solitude at all. Some were quite random and so brief (Myra Hindley, the notorious English child murderer, and Lana Peters, Stalin's daughter) that they read more as moments of name-dropping than anything else.Having said that, I did enjoy reading this book. Terry Waite has led a unique and fascinating life, and it was an interesting assortment of people to read about. When I heard him speak at an event last week he mentioned that he's written six books across a number of genres books and has been trying to discover his writing voice or style. I think this writing naivety was very obvious in this book, with Waite overstretching himself both as an investigative journalist and as an armchair psychologist, but that aside I enjoyed my short trot around the globe with him.3.5 stars - interesting,but would have benefited from some further editorial polishing.