Lifelines

Searching for Home in the Mountains of Greece

Read by Chris Harper
Published by Elliott & Thompson Audio
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

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A WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE MONTH

‘Magical... A book that will refresh your soul.’ Carol Drinkwater, author of The Olive Farm

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THE TRUE STORY OF A COURAGEOUS LEAP INTO A NEW LIFE

In 2000, burnt out by city living, Julian Hoffman and his wife Julia took a bold step: they left everything behind and moved to Prespa in northern Greece – a remote landscape of vast lakes, snow-capped mountains and stone villages.

Here, their seasons are punctuated by unforgettable encounters, including nesting summer pelicans, a springtime stare-down with a bear and a winter meeting with fourteen tiny birds above a frozen doorway.

Lifelines is a story of new beginnings – of searching for home in an unfamiliar place, finding community across borders and truly discovering your place in the world.

‘I was enthralled and won't be the only reader making travel plans.’ Gaia Vince

• AN FT BEST SUMMER BOOK

• An inspiring read about moving abroad and starting life again.

• Set amongst the beautiful Greek landscape.

• Full of soul-warming encounters with the natural world.

• The perfect summer read to take on holiday, an ideal non-fiction beach book.

• Winner of The Anglo-Hellenic League's Runciman Award 2026

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‘A Year in Provence meets The Earth Transformed as Hoffman's exquisite account of relocation to a crossroads region of Greece called Prespa deftly blends travel and nature writing with history, memoir and ecology.’ Waterstones

‘An inspiring call to throw caution to the wind … Lifelines is not just beautiful, it is quite literally encouraging. It will make you brave.’ Observer

About The Author

JULIAN HOFFMAN is one of our most thoughtful and interesting writers on the natural world. He is the author of two previous books, Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save our Wild Places (Highly Commended Finalist for the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation 2020; Royal Geographical Society ‘Book of the Year’ 2020; shortlisted for ASLE UK Book Prize for Literature and Environment 2021) and The Small Heart of Things (Winner of both the 2012 AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction and the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature, as well as being a finalist for the Foreword Book of the Year in Ecology and Environment and the ASLE Book Award for Literature and Environment).

About The Reader

Product Details

  • Publisher: Elliott & Thompson Audio (July 2, 2026)
  • Runtime: 10 hours and 19 minutes
  • ISBN13: 9781783968671

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