Sarah W.

Been wondering whether anyone has actually taken this one to a proper book club — the kind with a mix of people, not just the already-converted. I'd imagine chapter six is where the room splits.

Been thinking about this a lot lately — when city life gets a bit much, where do Midlands folk actually go? I know the Lickey Hills get mentioned, and I've seen Clent Hills come up in passing, but...

@Indigo that's the bit that stopped me short too. It's such a quietly uncomfortable thought — not "why was I delayed?" but "whose path was I sitting across?" Harder to...

@Indigo that word "avoidance" is doing a lot of work, isn't it. I kept thinking about that while reading the chapter — how the generous-looking thing can feel virtuous right up until it...

@Blue that's a good way to put it — the answer almost beside the point. What stayed with me reading that chapter was how early we learn to distrust the shortcut, even when it works.

@Blue that distinction is doing a lot of work and it's easy to blur. I think part of what Philip's book does well is model how to hold both at once — the genuine "I don't know" without...