Bothy cover art

Bothy

In Search of Simple Shelter

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Bothy

By: Kat Hill
Narrated by: Catrin Walker-Booth
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘The bothy embrace is addictive’ ADAM NICOLSON

'Will have you reaching for your boots’ CAL FLYN

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A bothy is a remote hut in the wilderness that you can’t reserve, with no electricity, mod-cons or running water. The doors are always unlocked, you just need to step inside.

From the rugged cliffs at the northern tip of Scotland to the fairy-tale valleys of Wales, historian Kat Hill tours us across the UK exploring the history of these wild shelters and her fellow wanderers – past and present.

Bothy is a stirring, beautiful book for anyone who longs to run away to the wilds

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‘A thoughtful exploration of what these remote outposts mean to their users’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘A beguiling combination of travel writing, nature writing, social history and personal reflection’ DAILY MAIL

©2024 Kat Hill (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Hiking Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

'A thoughtful exploration of what these remote outposts mean to their users, drawing on archived visitor books as well as describing the bothies’ redemptive role in her own life'
Financial Times
'The result is a thoughtful and thought-provoking, a beguiling combination of travel writing, nature writing, social history and personal reflection'
Daily Mail
'Kat Hill thoughtfully couples history with memoir; these personal touches endear the reader to a life of bothy-dwelling. This is a warm, erudite work that neatly explores our relationship with wild landscapes and carefully considers our place within them'
New Stateman
'An intelligent and thoughtful book that will have you reaching for your boots. Hill offers learned and considered reflections on the consolations of retreat, simple living, of finding even temporary shelter when all outside is tempest. It is also a meditation on change: climate change, emotional growth, and the unquenchable nostalgia for a past slipping ever further from view’
Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment
‘Marvellous… It would be difficult to think of a subtler or more careful exploration of the wrinkles of modern life and modern nature, with all its traps, delights, delusions and possibilities.
Adam Nicolson, author of Life Between the Tides
‘A questing, atmospheric collection of meditations of the essential nature of bothy life. A book steeped in dubbin, wood smoke, lanolin, and love of wild places, Kat Hill's hymn to the humble highland hut will delight and inform armchair travellers, weekend walkers, and veteran rough-stuffers alike’
Dan Richards, co-author of Holloway
‘You can't imagine just how much I loved the book… the universality underneath the particularity is going to strike a chord with so many readers’
Sophie Howarth, author of Looking at Trees and co-founder of The School of Life
All stars
Most relevant
I love the passion that has gone into creating this book and the care the author shows for the people who’s stories she is telling.
Even if you know nothing about Bothies, this book gives you an insight into their position as an agent of social good and a permanent fixture in the landscape. It is divided into 12 chapters with a prologue and epilogue and makes easy listening whilst walking, driving, cooking, travelling… the possibilities are endless. There isn’t a dull moment and each place she has visited is described in a broader historical context and includes the environmental and social changes that have occurred in the area. She has conducted thorough archival research to give meaning and purpose to each visitors reasons for escaping into the hills as well as her own story. She reflects on her childhood spent in nature and the important environmental issues of our time. I’d highly recommend the book to anyone who loves travel, walking, Scotland, history, birdwatching and nature. My favourite part was about the sheep who eat seaweed. This is just one of the unique stories you won’t find anywhere else.

Deep, meaningful research and beautiful clear writing

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I disliked that Bothy was pronounced Bovy by orator and this I found very distracting .

Why Bovy?!

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Brilliantly explained. I learnt so much and will listen again with enthusiasm. Food of the soul

Inspired

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I've never visited a bothy but am fascinated by the idea of these shelters in the craggy wilderness, offering warmth and respite from the wind, rain or snow. I had hoped this book might fire my imagination and describe the experience of using these charismatic habitations and discuss their history. Sadly, most of the book is filled with interminable, repetitious monologues about any subject other than bothies - the author seems to have used the book as an opportunity to let off steam about the state of the world and her love life - it's like listening to an expanded social media rant. Add to this the monotonous narrator and frequent mispronunciations, and you have a book that is definitely best avoided.

A writer in need of an editor

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