Boundless

Cycling the Nature of Loss and Renewal

A year after the death of my wife, I found myself at a crossroads. As a scientist working with nature conservation projects in some of the earth’s most remote corners, I have dedicated my life to sustaining the endless spectacle of our wild earth. But her death had left me trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead and I searched daily for a guide to help me reconcile my deep love of nature with the love that nature takes away with such impassioned swiftness. Fortunately, my wife, a Shakespearean actor, left me one, along with a mission. With little preparation and without a map, I traveled from Palermo, Sicily to Venice by bicycle to discover the site of each play set by Shakespeare in Italy. My slow adventure fulfilled a journey I had promised to Ginny, and allowed me to leave a tangible bit of her in each place, a locket of hair to mingle with the soil, earth, and air that had inspired the playwright she so loved. Boundless is the chronicle of my pilgrimage in the company of Shakespeare through some of the world’s most magical landscapes. Along the way I found a way to rebuild a relationship with time and nature. More important, I discovered where love goes when we are left holding it alone, and how to follow it if we are to survive.