The Instant

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING

Wishing to leave behind the isolation of her Orkney island life, Amy Liptrot books a one-way flight to Berlin. She rents a loftbed in a shared flat and starts to look for work - and for love - through the screen of her phone.

The Instant tells of the momentous year that follows, encountering the city's wildlife in the most unexpected places, tracing the cycles of the moon, the flight paths of migratory birds and surrendering to the addictive power of love and lust.

Amy Liptrot is the author of The Outrun and The Instant, which were both Sunday Times bestsellers. She writes columns and reviews for various magazines and newspapers including the Guardian and the Orcadian and presented the BBC Radio 4 series The New Anatomy of Melancholy. The Outrun was awarded the Wainwright Prize and the PEN Ackerley Prize, and was shortlisted for the Wellcome Prize and the Ondaatje Prize. It was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and featured on the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. In 2024 it was adapted by Amy and Nora Fingscheidt into a BAFTA and London Critics' Circle Film Awards-nominated film starring Saoirse Ronan. Amy's second book, The Instant, was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize.

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