The Grace Year- Katherine May
Three years ago I had the incredible opportunity to review Wintering- my very first ARC. A more perfect book couldn’t have found me at a more fitting time. When I heard that May had a new book coming out, I knew I needed to read it ASAP so THANK YOU to Riverhead Books for making that happen!
Wintering was the book I needed during my darkest hours of the pandemic and Enchantment is now the book guiding me in a world after lockdowns, a time when we’re all still figuring things out. Like others, I’ve found parts of myself have become numb and uninspired. I’ve lost spirit and hope. I’ve spent day after day in bed, just waiting. Nothing seemed waking up for. I had become disconnected to the part of myself that delights in the little moments that make life worth living- moments of enchantment.
Divided up into four elements- earth, water, fire, and air, through essays of her past and present, May guides us along her personal journey to find that missing piece of life; that spark; that almost incomprehensible bit of magic that sadly eludes so many of us.
Her essays chronicle her many ventures ranging from a bee-keeping course to a search for the Lyrid meteor shower to ultimately find that enchantment lies in the quiet, simple moments.
May’s writing reads like an anthropology of empathy and awareness. I have tabbed more than half the pages in this book. I have highlighted and underlined, drawn little hearts and furiously scribbled in the margins. The entire time, I was thinking “ I wish I could have tea with Katherine May.” I would love to pick her mind and discuss life. Her writing is some of the most poetic and lyrical I’ve ever read while remaining relatable and down to earth. At times, it felt like I was reading my own stream of consciousness. May’s voice is the voice I’ve quieted in my own mind; the ideas I’ve written off as too far-fetched. I’ve realized that I have been lucky enough to have held onto my childhood wonderment. I still marvel at finding a beautiful rock or seashell. I can’t resist wishing on dandelions and making snow and sand angels. I delight in the belief that mermaids could very well lie beneath the surface of the sea and fairies could be whispering among the trees. I think the belief in magic is innate and am incredibly fortunate I haven’t lost this part of myself. Enchantment has reminded me to slow down and savor; to never stop seeking.