SurfacingUnder the ravishing light of an Alaskan sky, objects are spilling from the thawing tundra linking a Yup'ik village to its hunter gatherer past. In the shifting sand dunes of a Scottish shoreline, impressively preserved hearths and homes of Neolithic farmers are uncovered. In a grandmother's disordered mind, memories surface of a long ago mining accident and a 'mither who was kind'. In this luminous new essay collection, acclaimed author Kathleen Jamie

Muhammad Ali was God's Gift to the interviewer

that of a born

and accessible veg recipes

It's gold had fuelled the economies of Europe and Islamic world since around 1000

Christmas is coming

over 7 meters high

accompanied by her daughter Kate and friend Shona

and others were not

war and betrayal

and her brother

three college friends set off on an epic 180-mile canoeing adventure: travelling down the River Wye

and the kindness of strangers