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The Instant

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The Instant

By: Amy Liptrot
Narrated by: Amy Liptrot
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Summary

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING

'I loved this book' Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path
'Utterly absorbing' Lucy Jones, author of Losing Eden

Wishing to leave behind the quiet isolation of her Orkney island life, Amy Liptrot books a one-way flight to Berlin. Searching for new experiences, inspiration and love, she rents a loftbed in a shared flat and looks for work. She explores the streets, nightclubs and parks and seeks out the city’s wildlife – goshawks, raccoons and hooded crows. She looks for love through the screen of her laptop.

Over the course of a year Amy makes space hoping for the unexpected. And it comes with an erotic jolt, in the form of a love affair that obsesses her.

The Instant is an unapologetic look at the addictive power of love and lust. It is also an exploration of the cycles of the moon, the flight paths of migratory birds, the mesmerising power of Neolithic stonework and the trails followed by a generation who exist online.

This audiobook contains an exclusive essay by Amy Liptrot.

Animals Biological Sciences Friendship Love, Dating & Attraction Outdoors & Nature Relationships Science
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Critic Reviews

"A slim, luminous account of living and loving in Berlin, picking up where The Outrun left off"
"Brilliant on the addictive bliss of romance . . . [The Instant is] a parable about the quicksands of internet dating, and a survivors’ handbook 'for the heartsick'"
"Intoxicating, generous and refreshingly original. The way Liptrot weaves her inner life with the natural world and the digital world is utterly absorbing. This book is so alive and so wild" (LUCY JONES)
"Beautiful . . . brilliant . . . The truest thing I’ve read in a long time. It feels revelatory to read serious, thoughtful writing on the sorts of experiences that so rarely receive it. . . The Instant is the most elegant examination of the internet’s distance pain I have ever read" (EVIE WYLD)
"Elegant, melancholic and deeply yearning, The Instant captures something vital about our age: its strange dislocations and connections. I drank it in" (KATHERINE MAY)
"Enthralling and instinct-sharpening"
"A book of rare power. Part heartbreaking love story, part pin-sharp exploration of relationships in the digital age, The Instant is an intense and intensely beautiful book about connection, longing and the gravitational power of nature, and human nature, on the heart" (ROB COWEN)
"Sensuous and full of promise"
"Wildness lurks in the edges of this book – nature in its more feral state, and unashamed eroticism. I gulped this slim, powerful, ravishing little book down in one" (CAL FLYN)
"The Instant is magical, it is sexy, it is redolent of the natural world and it is all the things that makes Liptrot one of the most unique voices writing today . . . We simply cannot get enough Liptrot in our lifetimes. I want her to write a book every year"
All stars
Most relevant
There are things Amy writes about that put words to my own experiences that I’m often to ashamed to speak about. I’m grateful for this and the way she notices birds and uses words to light the way.

Loneliness

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I appreciate Liptrot's intrigue and sense of adventure, and courage. As well as listening to her navigate life's trials and tribulations, to get a view of how somebody else does this, given the importance of the topics like alcohol, loneliness, travel, men, marriage, and babies is fruitful for me. I must say the lack of stars comes down to myself and Liptrot being completely different people; there were just some things that had me going 'Why?! Why?! No!' And it all felt a little bit too ... millennial.

Approaching indifference

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.