“The pattern of this landscape is folded deep, deep within her memory […]. The cold north wind carries the remembered scent of pine and heather. The ice-carved valleys guide her. She is coming.”

The novel begins by describing events from an osprey’s point of view. Iris is about to start her northward migration to Scotland. Lewis gives her character idiosyncrasies: Her tendency to merge landscape elements with memory will be repeated when she imprints Callum’s face. He becomes a part of her inner landscape, too.

“‘My dad lost his business because of her ma.’ He turned grim-faced to Euan. ‘She stole every last bit of his money and ran off. She wouldn’t dare put a foot in Scotland again.’”

Rob is making this accusation about Iona’s mother, Fiona. The first time he lays eyes on Iona, he is ready to reactivate his father’s hostility toward her mother. Later events suggest that the story of theft may not be true, but Rob is willing to credit it without any evidence. As he turns to face Euan, Lewis suggests that communities break down when prejudices are passed onto others. The novel stresses the need to get past old habits of thought if a community is to thrive.

“‘People are like rivers,’ said Iona. ‘That’s what I think.’ I sat up and squeezed the water from my sleeve. ‘What d’you mean?’ Iona rocked back on her heels and looked right at me. ‘You’ve got to learn to look beneath the surface, to see what lies deeper in.’”

In the novel’s first segment, Iona teaches Callum about intuition and connecting with nature on a more profound level. She can already see into the heart of things and already feels deeply connected to the ospreys. Callum will eventually make the same imaginative leap, but it will take much longer for him to truly understand what Iona is saying.