The author recounts a memorable experience on the Isle of Jura, where they camped with their daughter amid harsh weather conditions. The remote island is steeped in literary history, being where George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. Their trip coincides with a luxury stay at Glenapp Castle, juxtaposing wilderness exploration with opulence, highlighting the contrast between the rugged beauty of nature and the comforts of modern life. The journey itself was challenging yet exhilarating, emphasizing the retreat from reality to a more sublime existence.
Indeed, it was not exactly easy for my six-year-old daughter and me to get there - we'd traveled by air, land, and boat. It seemed somewhat miraculous.
Orwell called the island 'un-get-at-able.' It felt fitting to me that one might imagine a dystopian future while retreating as far from the dystopian present as possible.
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