Weekend Book Review: Mountain Song

Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps by Lucy Fuggle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps by Lucy Fuggle opens with the author turning a familiar wish into reality, as she rents a quaint house, in a tiny village called Meiringen nestled in the Swiss Alps, to get away from it all. “I wanted to live somewhere with quiet views of the mountains, surrounded by nature and with plenty of time to sit, read, write and think. I wanted to see the light change on the horizon, to notice the pinky-orange alpenglow illuminating the mountains as the day fell away and to know the comings and goings of the birds… I wanted to live on my terms, no matter what people thought of that.”

Fuggle, a woman in her early twenties, had grown up in a flat farming town in England and wrestled with her desire to be away from people, in the quiet, for most of her life. An introvert on the autistic spectrum, she felt drained and constrained by traditional work and social environments. She desired to escape to nature to find her true self, the comfortable self that she embodied as a child but had lost along the way. “As soon as I heard about autism and what it can look like for women, things suddenly made more sense. By reading about others who were shining their own light and giving other people’s expectations the finger, I saw a different path.”

Her choice to live for three years in the Traumhaus, or dream house, as her boyfriend Iain named it, came with a lot of time to reflect on who she had become, what kind of life she wanted to live and permission to embrace her aloneness. Peppered with human interaction with a few male friends, her co-workers at her job where she worked three days a week on site (and eventually quit) and her boyfriend, whom she would see weekly, this book is largely about being alone.

And, on behalf of all introverts out there, I ask, why isn’t that okay? No one has to justify living in the company of people 24 hours a day… should someone who prefers glacial mountains, waterfalls, birdsong and wildflowers over the company of humans be thought less of? I, for one, think not. Fuggle writes, “The smallest and quietest choices can be the boldest moments – to no longer tolerate what’s holding us down, to commit to shining brighter and to jump wholeheartedly into the rip current of living.” This move into the alone turns out to be a time of freedom, reflection, reading, writing, dreaming, hiking and yes, living for her.

She is able to address the inevitable obstacle that presents itself in writing about a life spent alone–the problem of no problems–by describing the quiet rhythms of life and the changing of the seasons on her hikes through the Alps. Each chapter, really more brief reflections, are accompanied by beautiful photographs that visually describe her life.

Yet after three years, she comes to the conclusion, as most people who attempt a solitary life do, that alone is not her permanent destination. She sat with the uncomfortable duality of craving solitude, yet also human connection. While she doesn’t figure out what path she is going to take next, we see that her time in Switzerland helped her define the things she does want in her life. “I want to write about the beauty I notice on my journey, read widely and open my eyes as I step outside my corner of the world. And with time, if I’m lucky, I invite the mountains, galaxies and sand dunes to show in the furrows on my face.”

As a fellow introvert, reader, writer and bird lover, I really enjoyed this book. Though not a fast-paced adventure, it is a beautiful meander through the majesty and wonder of nature in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Also, an ode to simplicity and the quiet life; and that is enough for me.

“Cool forest air, mountainsides alight with alpenglow and the first evening stars coming into focus. It can hardly be called living simply when it’s worth so much.”

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.



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