Look away now if you don't want to know what's in our next book box, going out to subscribers in June.
Theme // WILD
What do you think of when you think of the wild?
Untamed nature, the unexplored reaches of the deep oceans and wildest corners of earth, the wonders of the animal kingdom or perhaps your own wild spirit?
Perhaps you think about its opposite - domesticity, urbanisation, restriction.
This quarter we've explored all these ideas and more, including:
- Thrill-seeking and adventure
- Extreme environments
- Immersing ourselves in wild nature
- Wanderlust and travel writing
- Taking the road less travelled
- The meaning of freedom
- Losing control
Here are the two books we chose.
Book One
Maurice and Maralyn
by Sophie Elmhirst
This is an award-winning piece of narrative non-fiction that charts the extraordinary journey taken by a 1970s suburban couple who decide to sell their house, build a boat and take to the open seas.
After a shocking encounter with a whale, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey are cast adrift in a life raft, alone in the ocean and awaiting for rescue. Except they aren't alone. Their raft becomes a floating island surrounded above and below by all manner of wild creatures. And they have each other.
Elmhirst has constructed the story from Maralyn's own diary, written over the journey including while on the raft, their own published memoirs, Maurice's letters to friends and through interviewing people who knew them.
The result is not just the gripping story of an adventure gone wrong, it's also a tender examination of human connection and how we survive - not just at sea, but in life.
Book Two
The Place of Tides
by James Rebanks
Written by farmer and top ten best-selling author of The Shepherd's Life and English Pastoral, James Rebanks' latest book will arrive shortly before its paperback publication date (and the reason we'll be dispatching our boxes a week later than planned this quarter).
It's a beautifully written account of the author's decision to travel to the edge of the Arctic in order to spend a season living and working with a woman who has dedicated her life to reviving an ancient landscape and its wild inhabitants.
Rebanks is a quiet observer of nature in all its details, large and small, and the book transports you to a place beyond anything most of us will ever encounter.
"James Rebanks has done a miraculous thing. He takes the reader with him to a stark, remote island on the strangest mission in the toughest circumstances and makes you feel like you're coming home."
Isabella Tree
Magazine
Volume 12 of our subscriber magazine is packed full of thought-provoking avenues to get you thinking about wildness. Includes author interviews and lots of further reading.
Gifts
You'll get two lovely gifts this quarter, both from small brands that put sustainability first.
Document your own wild journeys with a beautiful travel journal (RRP £19.95) by Sukie.
Each tactile journal has 232 pages of lined, plain, dot grid and kraft pages along with eight glassine and kraft pockets to store travel ephemera. (Cover may vary from image shown).
The second gift is a sachet of seeds from Piccolo Seeds' new Botanical Alphabet collection (RRP £3.50), which includes 26 varieties of flowers and wildflowers.
The packaging is crafted from innovative paper produced using fibres from tomato processing waste, ensuring that no part of the plant goes to waste. (You'll receive a sachet of seeds selected at random from the collection).
Digital Library
Your Drift + Focus book subscription will be packed by hand in Brighton in planet-friendly, plastic-free packaging and includes a Welcome Note with QR code to the quarterly Digital Library where you'll find playlists and podcasts to round out the theme.
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Plus a FREE BOOK for all new subscribers
Start a brand new subscription with this Summer 2025 box and pick any title from the full collection by family-run indie publishers, Wild Things Publishing.
Take a look at the collection here. We'll contact you after you've subscribed to find out which book you'd like.
If you don't love your box, we'll give you a full refund. Subscriptions can be paused of cancelled whenever you like. Check out the FAQs if you have any questions or contact us.
Start a Quarterly Subscription with this Summer box (Orders close at midnight on May 31st)