Katharine Norbury, an ardent swimmer and restless as water, always liked to wander by fluid landscapes, taking in nature, thinking about poetry, wondering about Celtic mythology. However, following a miscarriage in her mid-forties, the idea of a river walk offered consolation as well as inspiration.

Taking Scottish writer Neil Gunn’s book The Well At The World’s End as a starting point, Norbury sets out on her journey.

In tender, luminous prose she writes about what she sees on her way to the sea, but also contemplates all that happened to cause her such heartache. Ill health, mental breakdown and the knowledge that she was abandoned as a baby have wreaked havoc on her emotional equilibrium.

But by the time she reaches the source of the river she has forged deeper connections with her family and re-ignited her love of life.

The Fish Ladder, A Journey Upstream by Katharine Norbury is published by Bloomsbury, £16.99