‘Lifelines is not just beautiful, it is quite literally encouraging. It will make you brave.’ ~ Observer
FT – Best Summer Reads of 2025
LoveReading’s Best Books of the Year 2025
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A story of shelter, generosity and welcome. A story of searching for home in the mountains and lakes of northern Greece. A story of a shared world.
In the summer of 2000, Julian Hoffman and his wife Julia found themselves disillusioned with city life. Overwhelmed by long commutes, they stumbled upon a book about Prespa, Greece – a remote corner of Europe filled with stone villages, snow-capped mountains and wildlife. What began as curiosity soon transformed into a life-changing decision: to make Prespa their home.
Prespa is a crossroads. Where three countries come together around two huge lakes, where limestone collides with granite and heat-pulsing Mediterranean ecosystems meet their colder, Balkan relatives. Here, languages, wartime histories and rivers converge, and pelicans, bears and people leave their footprints on the water’s edge – next to unexploded bombs.
Lifelines is not only the tale of a courageous leap into a new life, but of seasons punctuated by unforgettable encounters, from a stare-down with a bear surrounded by Spring wildflowers to a deep-winter meeting with fourteen wrens sheltering above a frozen doorway. And into this place encircled by mountains, Julian seamlessly weaves an intricate web of stories – of conflict and possibility; of refuge lost and found; of the wild lifelines that connect us all as we move through the world seeking a home.
‘Julian Hoffman’s Lifelines is quite magical. I so looked forward to every snatched moment when I could curl up inside his pages, his universe, and share with him the very best of our Earth’s delights and to worry with him at Man’s destructiveness. Lifelines is a book that will refresh your soul.’ ~ Carol Drinkwater, author of The Olive Farm and The Olive Tree
‘Lifelines is a remarkable book. It elegantly and sensitively describes the pathways that all living creatures travel to get to where they belong – the ‘lifelines’ taking them ‘home’. The backdrop is the spectacular mosaic of mountains and lakes in Prespa in northern Greece, where Julian and Julia first tentatively, then permanently, find home. They meet others on similar quests, metaphorical or literal, be they bears, pelicans or humans. In rich and moving prose Julian describes these odysseys, infilling with past and present events and circumstances, from the Greek Civil War to the spectre of climate change, and how they impact the journeys. He shows where the pathways cross and entwine, posing challenges and opportunities for humans to co-exist with the wild world. Pulling the whole story together by offering the best explanation of biodiversity I have ever come across, Julian has produced a work that is utterly relevant to our times. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is even mildly interested in our place in the wider community of life on earth.’ ~ Lee Durrell, MBE
‘Absolutely fantastic. Lifelines is a balm for the soul: simultaneously hyper local and international; attentive to the lives of others, animal and human; Hoffman’s writing has never been better, more powerful, more beautiful than here. It is the book we need for these troubling times of closing borders, suspicion of others and biodiversity loss. It deserves to win awards.’ ~ Stephen Rutt, author of Eternal Summer
‘A tender, powerful story of love for a place and a way of being, and a bracing call to the barricades – for enemies are closing in. An urgent, important and compelling read.’ ~ Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild
‘I’ve been wondering for several years whether it was now possible for anyone writing in English to write a great book about living in Greece. Well, here it is. Exquisitely written, revelatory, passionate about the ecosystem of the Prespa lakes, Lifelines tells of how Hoffman and his wife found home in this northwest corner of Greece. The voice is unique, the message important, the book moving. I loved every page of it.’ ~ John Kittmer, former British Ambassador to Greece
‘A marvellous work of love and reflection on the wild places we share with nature, the ordinary and extraordinary people and creatures, and the magic of our living world. Vivid with humanity, empathy and clarity, and mercilessly devoid of sentimentality. I was enthralled and won’t be the only reader making travel plans for Prespa.’ ~ Gaia Vince, author of Nomad Century
‘Lifelines is absolutely beautiful. So moving and full of insights into our flawed relationship to the Earth – and yet it is not without hope for our damaged planet. Reading it is like talking to a friend and feeling that connection that can emerge when we open ourselves up to the complexity of being a human on a ball of rock flying through the cosmos.’ – Joanna Pocock, author of Surrender
Lifelines is now available at your favourite independent bookshops and the usual sites. A North American edition will be published on April 14 2026 by Godine. Booksellers and festival organisers can contact my publicist in the UK, Amy Greaves, at the following email: Amy(at)eandtbooks(dot)com . Copies can be found at your favourite bookstores, including via the following links:
Booktique (Greece – signed copies in stock, Kolonaki, Athens – contact to reserve)
Sam Read Bookseller
FOLDE Dorset
Sevenoaks Books
Harbour Bookshop
Waterstones
Blackwell’s
Bookshop.org
Foyles
Public (Greece)
Dussmann (Germany)
Bokus (Sweden)
Amazon.co.uk
The Book Odyssey (Greece)
Captain Book (Greece)
Julian Hoffman 