Helen Moat
Helen Moat is the author ofย A Time of Birdsย (Saraband, 2020), a travelogue of her journey across Europe, by bike, with her teenage son. She has also written multiple travel guides and is a regular contributor toย Derbyshire Life,ย BBC Countryfileย magazine,ย Wanderlu
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In A Time of Birds Helen Moat sets out to cycle across Europe, with her teenage son, on her sit-up-and-beg bike โ aka โThe Tankโ. Sheโs not sure whether she is running away from the past or pedalling towards it. As she cycles the Rhine and Danube through the days of unfolding spring, the sky filled with birdsong, she senses her bird-loving father is by her side. Increasingly, she loses herself in her surroundings and memories of a childhood spent in the outdoors of rural Northern Ireland. Gradually, the natural beauty of Europeโs great waterways bring healing, as does the kindness of friends and strangers along the way. She feels a sense of belonging on a continent shaped by war and peace, peoples divided and reunited, a shared history. But when the birdsong fades across the parched, late summer landscapes of Bulgaria and Turkey, Helen finds herself recalling the Troubles and confronting a suppressed secret. This is her life-affirming account of an unforgettable, if sometimes bumpy ride.
REVIEWS OF A Time of Birds
โ[A] wonderful narrative โฆ harrowing and inspiring by rapid turns โฆ Indispensable, heart-breaking, uplifting, beautifully-conceived and -written.โ NI Arts Council
โSlow travel at its best.โ Paul Cheney
โA perfect read for these times of isolation โฆ a fantastic book.โ John Toal, BBC Radio Ulster
โLyrical and immediate โฆ a reflective travel narrative about a bike tour through Europe, noting its histories of upheaval and change.โ Wendy Hinman, Foreword Reviews
โA moving and thought-provoking set of meditations โฆ detailed, vivid and lyricalโ Patricia Carswell, WI magazine
โGlorious โฆ an inspiring adventure โฆ humorous encounters and joyful times.โ Tom Chesshyre, Daily Mail
"There is more than one journey in this lovely, engrossing, book ... beautifully told, vivid in its colours and characters ... the prose twinkles and sparkles like birdsong ... a reminder of the healing power of nature, humanity and the active joy of slow, self-powered movement." Dead Deer blog
"This wonderful narrative of her epic mid-life trek across Europe with her son to Istanbul is harrowing and inspiring by rapid turns ... this pretty spectacular account of her childhood upbringing, 20 years after the Belfast Agreement, joins the small but potent library shelf of Brethren 'survivor diaries' on which sit such as Edmund Gosse's Father and Son and our own Max Wright's Told In Gath. Indispensable, heart-breaking, uplifting, beautifully-conceived and -written, Moat's contribution is of that standard." Damian Smyth, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
โIdeal reading for vicarious armchair travellers โฆ rich in emotional flashbacks and keen observations โฆ Moat is an exquisite stylist. Her unhurried, free-flowing narrative captivates the reader from the very first sentence โฆ a thoroughly unputdownable travel book.โ Vitali Vitaliev, Engineering & Technology Magazine
โGlorious โฆ an inspiring adventure โฆ humorous encounters and joyful times.โ Tom Chesshyre, Daily Mail
โA perfect read for these times of isolation โฆ a fantastic book.โ John Toal, BBC Radio Ulster
โA stand-out work of honesty and integrity, loss and hope.โ Alan Brown
โA prayer of a book. A hymn to the healing power of cycling slow.โ Chris Dolan
