Lifelines: A book’s beginnings

No book is ever written in isolation or stands on its own. The work of writing one might seem like a solitary endeavour given the single name on its cover, but each is indelibly and essentially shaped by countless people, places, conversations and encounters hidden just out of sight beyond the edge of the page. Each is influenced, either obviously or more tangentially, by other writers too, whose own words and thinking have helped challenge and clarify our own. And each is inevitably given form and flavour by the cultural, social and economic environments we dwell within. But with Lifelines, I have an even more direct debt to honour, because if it wasn’t for Giorgos Catsadorakis’s remarkable book about Prespa – Prespa: A Story of Man and Nature – which my wife Julia and I discovered through a review in the RSPB magazine over twenty-five years ago, just at the point when we were yearning to change our lives and leave London for somewhere else, we wouldn’t be living in Prespa today. And this new book of mine simply wouldn’t exist.

Giorgos, who is one of Europe’s foremost pelican experts and has devoted much of his life to the conservation of Prespa’s unique Dalmatian and great white pelican colonies, pulled us in so immediately with this beautiful and honest chronicle of a place that we’d never even heard of until we’d read the review that it immediately became clear to us that this unique region in northern Greece was worth making a leap of faith for. Without spoiling too much for readers, where I elaborate on this story (and the role that wine had to play!) in the book, I should also add that it was his photo of a stone settlement high above the lakes at the snow-capped crossroads of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia that convinced us to try and put down roots in the village of Agios Germanos. And twenty-five years later, we’re still in the same village. Books can, and do, change lives. Thank you for everything you did to change ours, Giorgos.

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“Lifelines is not just beautiful, it is quite literally encouraging. It will make you brave. To those waiting for the right moment, the safe path, the clearly marked route, Hoffman offers a challenge: throw yourself towards the dangerous edge of things.” ~ Alex Preston, The Observer

I’m thrilled by the early and generous response to the book in reviews at The Observer and The Times environment newsletter. And next week I’ll leave Prespa for the start of my book tour in southern England, where I’ll also be signing copies in various shops and doing a guest bookselling slot at The Bookery in Crediton on the 19th to help celebrate Indepedent Booksellers Week. Full details and booking options can be found on my events page and I hope to see some of you on the road this month!

June 11th: Owl Bookshop, London, with Ruth Padel
June 12th: FOLDE in Shaftsbury, Dorset
June 19th: Liznojan Bookshop in Tiverton, Devon
June 21st: Wealden Literary Festival, Kent
June 24th: Summertown Daunts, Oxford with Charles Foster
June 25th: Mr B’s Emporium, Bath with Richard Kerridge
June 26th: Victoria Waterstones, London with Gaia Vince
June 30th: Sevenoaks Bookshop, Sevenoaks