Description
Some people long to find it, others long to escape it. But,
whether we welcome or dread it, solitude is something we all
experience in different forms at different points in our lives.
After enduring nearly five years of solitary confinement, in
cruel and terrifying conditions, Terry Waite discovered that
he was drawn to find out more about the power of solitude
in the lives of other people. The result is this haunting book,
in which he recalls his encounters with people who have
experienced some very different ways of being solitary:
among them the peaceful solitude of remote and beautiful
places; the unsought and often unnoticed solitude of lonely
people living in the midst of busy cities; the deceptive
solitude of those living in the twilight world of espionage; the
enforced solitude of the convict and the prisoner of war; and
finally the inescapable solitude of those who are drawing near
to death.
Through all these encounters, and through the memories
and reflections they trigger in the author’s mind, we see how
solitude shapes the human soul – and how it can be a force
for good in our own lives, if we can only learn to use it well.