Tabitha Lasley initially travels to Scotland to research the treacherous lives of North Sea oil workers, but her story takes an unexpected turn when she falls for one of them: the relationship is doomed from the start, but in the process she interviews over 100 rig and platform workers. The result is an almost ethnographically precise exploration of the underbelly of extractivism in which the dark allure of the rigs becomes a metaphor for the battle between desire and destruction.
The body as a measuring tool for planetary harm. A nervous system under increasing stress.
In this collection that moves from the personal to the political and back again, writer, activist, and migrant Jessica Gaitán Johannesson explores how we respond to crises. She draws parallels between an eating disorder and environmental neurosis, examines the perils of an activist movement built on non-parenthood, dissects the privilege of how we talk about hope, and more. The synapses that spark between these essays connect essential narratives of response and responsibility, community and choice, belonging and bodies.
Jessica Gaitán Johannesson discussed her book The Nerves and Their Endings with Writers Rebel’s Toby Litt back in November 2022. Read their conversation and learn more about the book here.