An honest, radical and moving account of life off the grid.
It was 11pm when I checked my email for the last time and turned off my phone for what I hoped would be forever.
No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce.
In this upfront and lyrical account of a remarkable life without modern technology, Mark Boyle explores the hard won joys of building a home with his bare hands, learning to make fire, collecting water from the spring, foraging and fishing.
What he finds is an elemental life, one governed by the rhythms of the sun and seasons, where life and death dance in a primal landscape of blood, wood, muck, water, and fire – much the same life we have lived for most of our time on earth. Revisiting it brings a deep insight into what it means to be human at a time when the boundaries between man and machine are blurring.
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‘Boyle's memoir of his first year off-grid is fascinating… A poetic meditation on the almost-mystical benefits of falling in sync with nature.’ —New Statesman
‘A warts-and-all look at an extreme way of life, but one that, by the end of this engrossing book, makes the world around it seem dysfunctional.’ —Irish Independent, BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019
‘A beautiful and thought-provoking story that will inspire you to live differently. Mark asks the most fundamental questions then sets out to live the answers.’ Lily Cole, model and activist
Mark Boyle is the author of three previous books, which have been translated into over twenty languages. A former business graduate, he lived entirely without money for three years. He has written columns for the Guardian and has irregularly contributed to international press, radio and television. He lives on a smallholding in Co. Galway, Ireland. Mark Boyle founded the 'freeconomy' movement in the UK. A former economics graduate and business director, he is a columnist for the Guardian and Ethical Consumer magazine and he has been interviewed by a variety of national media, including Sky News, BBC Radio Four, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Telegraph, and The Times.
Read an Excerpt
Sometimes, when I catch myself emptying a bucket of my own shit, butchering a deer, shifting manure in the pissings of the rain, or any of the thousand other small things which make up my life – things that, at other times, would have seemed hair-brained, unethical, absurd – a feeling of ‘how the hell did I get here?’ comes over me. This was never part of the programme. Like everyone, I had dreams of success and the good life, but somewhere along the track, a place I can't quite put my finger on, the definition of those words began to change, and my life with it.
Table of Contents
Author's Note xiii
Prologue xv
Knowing My Place 1
Winter 21
Spring 87
Summer 139
Autumn 197
The Complexities of Simplicity 253
Postscript 257
A Short Note on the Free Hostel 261
Select Bibliography 263
Acknowledgements 267
What People are Saying About This
author of Wild: An Elemental Journey Jay Griffiths
‘A revealing, humorous and deeply endearing witness statement on behalf of lovely, dirty reality.’
Lily Cole
‘A beautiful and thought-provoking story that will inspire you to live differently. Mark asks the most fundamental questions then sets out to live the answers.’
author of Deep Country Neil Ansell
‘Illustrates beautifully that giving up many of the things in life that we treat as indispensable may actually be less of a sacrifice than a liberation.’
author of Mind of a Survivor Megan Hine
‘In a world more connected than ever before we have never been so disconnected. Boyle takes us along with him on his experimental journey to reconnect, with himself and to the rhythms of the natural world around him. By shaking off technologies of modern man and stepping back in time, Boyle shows the hardships and beauty of living with the seasons. A thought-provoking read which encourages the reader to appreciate many of the things we take for granted and question the way we live in the modern world.’
author of Real England and Confessions of a Recove Paul Kingsnorth
‘ The Way Home paints a picture not only of how broken our culture has become, but of how to begin building a new one. It demands to be read – and then lived by.’
