"An illuminating, moving cross-section of past and present pilgrimages, exploring what transforms a trip into a journey of the soul. On This Holy Island is a window to enchantment for those searching for meaning in the modern world. Illuminating some of the holy rites and routes that we pass through unknowingly every day, giving our daily lives a renewed and much-needed sense of meaning. Reassuring the reader that, whatever the century, the possibility of transcendent connection with something greater might be just around the corner."-- "Jade Angeles Fitton, author of Hermit: A Memoir of finding freedom in a Wild Place"
"Smith is one of the best and most thoughtful travel writers working today. I loved this sensitive, astute, and delicately written account of his journeys to these most sacred places- standing stones and holy islands, crypt-like caves and sports stadia-disparate sites united by their profound effects upon the human psyche. Pilgrimage speaks to something soft and raw and yearning inside all of us, something powerful that goes so often unspoken. Smith bottles it on the page."-- "Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape
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"Imaginative and engaging."-- "Country Life"
"Excellent.immensely well-researched and playful. Smith has written something special."-- "Patrick Galbraith, The Times"
"The overriding message is that every pilgrimage is unique and what is required is an open mind... as he puts it, "to break through the crust of the familiar to find the fantastical."-- "The Financial Times"
"A wonderfully original and engaging exploration of pilgrimage in modern Britain - with all its diversity of motivation and eccentricity of character. Oliver Smith trips lightly along pilgrims' ways both old and new, with a sharp eye and an open mind."-- "Tim Hannigan, author of The Granite Kingdom: A Cornish Journey"