Books
When The Sky Falls: A Human History of Shooting Stars will publish September 3rd 2026 with Batsford Books. Pre-orders available at all good bookshops and, also, here.
Summary
When the Sky Falls is a global cultural history of shooting stars spanning from the prehistoric to the present day, and exploring beliefs, superstitions, and the relationship between humanity and meteors throughout time.
Structured across four parts – ‘Art, Culture and the Meteor’, ‘Utilising Space Rocks’, ‘Belief and Superstition’ and ‘Shooting Stars’ Influence on History’ – the book explores the varied influences the shooting star has had on our global culture and history from the governing of kings, queens and emperors, to folklore, superstitions, myths, art, music and literature, not to mention the various scientific advancements and applications that meteors have allowed.
In the present day – an era largely devoid of superstition and belief – more than anything else, a shooting star symbolises hope: an irrational excuse to make a wish in an increasingly rational world. Despite (or perhaps because of) light pollution decreasing our ability to witness the night sky in the 21st century, the shooting star retains its magic. For anyone – from the tired Russian drivers who witnessed the Chelyabinsk Event in 2013, to the amateur stargazer catching a glimpse of a falling Perseid – a shooting star tearing through the black still feels like a little miracle: this book tells their captivating story.
Reviews
‘A burst of brilliance. I learned so much from this beautiful book of stardust, skyfall and celestial symbology.’ – Cal Flyn
‘Made me look at the night sky in a completely different way.’ – Will Millard
‘An incredible collection of the deeply universal yet deeply personal experience of witnessing a shooting star. A testament to the never-ending creativity and individuality of the human imagination as it grapples with the great unknown.’ – Ben Edge, author of ‘Folklore Rising’
‘A perfect book of miracles’ – Stephen Ellcock
‘A sparkling, millennia-spanning constellation of vignettes about the myriad ways humans have interpreted these heavenly messengers. When the Sky Falls confirms Jade Angeles Fitton as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary non-fiction.’ – Stu Hennigan
‘A scintillating journey exploring how celestial bodies in transit have shaped ancient belief, folklore and culture across continents and centuries.’ – Tom Vowler
‘When the Sky Falls is a luminous galactic travelogue – slender, elegant, and rich – carrying the reader through myth, history, and human longing with the lightest of touches and the deepest of insight {…} It is a book to read greedily, then return to endlessly, leaving you with the thrilling sense that when you reach the final page, your journey has only just begun.’ – Joe Gibson
‘A bright star of a book.’ – Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean
‘A rich and elegantly written miscellany, at once expansive across human history whilst reminding us of the fleeting fragility of our own existence, mirrored in the falling stars we wish upon.’ – Tiffany Francis-Baker
‘A book of wonder and astonishment.’ – Anna Selby
‘A glittering tapestry of astral stories…. An examination of the fact that sometimes, truth is more wondrous than fiction.’ – Tom Allan
‘Non-fiction written with a poet’s pen, this is a book for every reader – dreamer, academic and storyteller alike.’ – Jodie Rhian Matthews
‘An inspiring interstellar journey through time, space and place, which soars like a shooting star through the imagination.’ – Phoebe Smith
‘When The Sky Falls’ is available here.
Hermit was published in 2023 published by Penguin Random House/Hutchinson Heinemann.
Summary
‘I never imagined that the wind would blow me here, to a kind of isolation I have never experienced… There is never anything out here but my shadow, that no one treads on any more‘
When Jade’s partner leaves the barn that they moved into just weeks before, he leaves a dent in the wall and her life unravelled. Numbed from years in a destructive, abusive relationship, she faces an uncertain future and complete solitude. Slowly, with the help of Devon’s salted cliffs and damp forested footpaths, Jade comes back to life and discovers the power of being alone.
As Jade reacclimatizes, she considers what it means to live alone. Through conversations with other hermits across the world, Fitton sheds light on the myriad – and often misunderstood – ways of living alone: from monks to hikikomori, and the largely ignored female hermit. Jade questions whether hermitic living is possible in an era of constant communication and increased housing costs as she finds herself financially unstable and itinerant. She realises that home doesn’t exist within walls, but within the landscape of her childhood home county.
Lyrically written, this is an inspirational story of recovery, of finding home, and of celebrating solitude in the natural world.
Reviews
Rapturous. The Times Literary Supplement
Piercingly lyrical … Beautifully observed. The Sunday Times
Her beautifully written tale provides food for thought…you’ll adore this powerhouse of a book. Daily Express
This distinctive, alluring memoir, reminiscent of The Outrun by Amy Liptrot, relates how Fitton slowly learns to live alone and celebrate solitude in the natural world. The Bookseller
Craving refuge from her frenetic front-row job, Jade Angeles Fitton fled to remote Devon, where she realised she loved being a 21st century hermit. Mail on Sunday
A dreamy, beautiful book about the consolations of solitude. In Hermit, Jade wanders a sunlit, windswept, delicately drawn landscape of loss and longing, and in doing so finds the stillness at the centre of herself. Hopeful and open-hearted. Cal Flyn, author of ‘Islands of Abandonment’
A compelling, engrossing memoir that beautifully encapsulates the human experience (both the misery and the magic) of suddenly finding yourself rebuilding life from the ground up, alone. I loved it. Emma Gannon
Hermit is a beautiful written debut memoir drawing on the hermetic tradition that shows the power of being alone. Katherine May, author of ‘Wintering’
A book of spellbinding brilliance by a writer of rare talent. Tristan Gooley
Written with often startling beauty, Hermit is an intimate account of the healing power of solitude. Though deeply personal, it explores universal truths about society and the human condition. A brave, brilliant and important book. Lee Schofield, author of ‘Wild Fell’
I loved Hermit, hoovered it down in a day. Jade Angeles Fitton’s life – from barns to huts to islands – is cleverly, brilliantly but honestly recorded. her search for boundary lines between herself and the beauty of the world is both engaging and true. She leaves us with an intense emotional understanding both of contemporary loneliness and the hermit’s older companion, solitude – that state in which ‘every living thing knows a secret.’ M. John Harrison, author of ‘Wish I Was Here’
In Hermit, Jade Angeles Fitton embarks on a heroic quest of self-discovery, creating in the process a beautiful, sensitive work about the challenges and solace of the natural world. Catherine Taylor
Fitton brings heart, body and soul to this compelling story of deliberate living. A book about solitude – hers and other people’s – that runs rich with love for the natural world. Tanya Shadrick, author of ‘The Cure for Sleep’
In Hermit, Fitton has actually created that very thing for which she yearns: a place of serenity and calm and reflection. Reading it, I felt the overheated racket of the world recede, even as I attained further knowledge of its workings. It’s a forest glade of a book: a hidden shore; a moorland escarpment where the voices you hear are the only ones that truly matter. It’s a peace not reached without struggle and fight, which is true of all the best and necessary things. Niall Griffiths, author of ‘Stump’
‘Hermit is as much a story of escape as one of finding one’s place in the landscape. A blend of memoir, nature writing and a re-examination of women throughout history who have sought solace in solitude, Jade Angeles Fitton has written a stunning and original book about loss, love and overcoming one’s demons.’ Joanna Pocock, ‘Surrender’
A stirring and evocative meditation on the human urge for solitude across the centuries, which subtly blends memoir and nature writing with a journalist’s eye for detail and a poet’s clarity of vision. Stu Hennigan, ‘Ghost Signs’
To coincide with Hermit, Jade has been invited to speak at Cheltenham Literary Festival; the G10 Arts, Philosophy and Economics Festival in Amsterdam; Appledore Book Festival; Lewes Speakers’ Festival; Bude Lit Fest; Libraria London; Daunt Books; and Bath Spa University, among many others,
She has given a number of writing workshops and retreats, including at The Arvon Foundation.