Solitude

If anyone understands Solitude, it’s Terry Waite. After five years spent in solitary confinement during his faught kidnapping in the 80s, Terry Waite has had decades to think about what being solitary means, and how it affects us. He explores why some people avoid being alone at every cost, whilst others can think of nothing more peaceful than being well and truly by themselves, and how those feelings can change with time. This book is all about his encounters with people who live a solitary life in many different ways and guises. Some who live out in the most remote of locations, shunning all manner of modern society; some who find themselves solitude in the anonymous flow of crowds in busy cities; and some whose remarkable circumstance, whether professionally or for their own safety, are forced to live a solitary life. There is more than one way to be alone, and these different voices all show how that works. Solitude is more than being alone, it is a retreat into the self shapes the soul. Through his pilgrimage through solitude, Terry Waite discovers how solitude (not loneliness), far from being something we should fear, but is instead something that can a force for good in we learn to embrace and live it out thoughtfully and bravely. Praise for Solitude: "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 "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 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.