Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
"Sometimes when the city has got me down and I feel overwhelmed by concrete and people, I go back to this book, a beautiful meditation on Dillard's time living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Dillard has an eye for the small details (I never thought a writer could make waking up covered in the bloody paw prints of her cat sound beautiful, but she does somehow. Trust me.) all while never ignoring the vast and awe inspiring aspects of the natural world. A wonderful read to take you out of your concrete doldrums." - Emily
— From Emily's Staff PicksDescription
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Roanoke Valley. Annie Dillard sets out to see what she can see. What she sees are astonishing incidents of "beauty tangled in a rapture with violence."
Her personal narrative highlights one year's exploration on foot in the Virginia region through which Tinker Creek runs. In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall, she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays King of the Meadow with a field of grasshoppers. The result is an exhilarating tale of nature and its seasons.