When my brother Toby died at 40, he unknowingly left me a string of challenges that would help me navigate the grief of losing him and my other brother, Marcus. The biggest were the ones he never expected me to take on: writing the book he had hoped to author, and finishing his sea‑kayaking journey through the Shipping Forecast. I ended up doing both within two and a half years of his death.
In 2022 I wrote Moderate Becoming Good Later (Summersdale, 2023) in his voice, using his notes and recordings, hoping to offer others the solace in nature that Toby had found there. By the time the final manuscript was accepted in January 2023, I had somehow convinced myself that, despite never having sat in a sea kayak, I could complete his Shipping Forecast challenge.
Thundery at Times is my story. Moving between the wild edges of the British Isles and the everyday realities of motherhood in Barcelona, it explores grief, a difficult family past and midlife reinvention, with honesty, flashes of humour and an eye for the small moments that keep people going.
Publication date: 14th May 2026
My first book, Moderate Becoming Good Later (Summersdale, 2023) is co-authored with my brother Toby Carr, who died in January 2022.
In 2018 he set off to sea kayak the Shipping Forecast. Starting in South East Iceland and making his way down the western seaboard of Europe, Toby lived the story and carefully recorded his experience. I then crafted it out of words into a book.
Both of my brothers were born with the rare genetic illness called Fanconi Anaemia. At twelve they were told they’d be lucky to reach 30. Marcus topped this by seven years and Toby by ten. It was the death of our brother Marcus (two and a half years older than Toby and two years younger than me) that inspired Toby to start this journey.
While the idea of loss is necessarily woven through the book, this story is about life, about seizing opportunities, doing more than you thought possible and choosing adventure.
Publication date: 8th June 2023
Check out the books in the media. Don’t miss the 25 minute documentary on my story created by the BBC Travel show.
Katie offers talks, in‑conversation events and workshops for festivals, bookshops, sailing clubs and reader communities. Her events weave readings from Thundery at Times and Moderate Becoming Good Later with images, sound and stories from the Shipping Forecast, opening gentle conversations about loss, resilience and how we keep moving when the weather is unsettled.
A 45–60 minute solo event blending readings from Thundery at Times with images, sound and voices from across the Shipping Forecast. Katie traces an unfinished sea‑kayaking journey, a complex family story and the work of finding small flashes of humour, connection and joy when life is ‘thundery at times.
A chaired conversation or panel for readers drawn to honest but hopeful stories of how people remake their lives after loss. Topics can include grief and continuing bonds, writing about family, adventure in midlife, and what it means to set yourself a challenge you are not sure you can complete.
A 90–120 minute workshop for readers and writers who have lived through change and want language for it. Using simple narrative tools, Katie helps participants notice the stories they tell themselves about who they are and what has happened, and experiment with small shifts that make more room for agency, humour and brief, vital moments of joy.
I’m currently planning my UK and Irish launch tour. Watch this space for information on when and where I’ll be speaking.
One of the major perks of doing book signings is hanging out in beautiful independent bookshops, so if you can, please find your local bookshop and get the book there. While you’re at it, ask them for a recommendation on what to read next.
An exhilarating and deeply moving story of one man’s attempt to sea kayak the areas of the Shipping Forecast, perfect for fans of The Salt Path and Attention All Shipping
The Shipping Forecast has been described as the UK’s national lullaby: a source of dependability and calm in our often chaotic world, it has charmed millions of listeners and aided generations of seafarers across the decades. No stranger to weathering a storm, avid kayaker Toby Carr set out to explore the areas of the Forecast on a series of adventures, from Southeast Iceland to Trafalgar via North Utsire, Faeroes, German Bight, Fisher, Lundy, FitzRoy and all the others in between.
On a journey that took him to the stormiest and most tranquil stretches of our sea, Toby sought out the real people, places and stories behind the familiar names and imagined environments of the well-loved BBC broadcast. He hoped to find the strength and balance he knew nature could provide, and to discover the things that anchor us to each other. But the expedition also gave him space and time that he desperately needed, to reflect on the death of his brother from the rare genetic condition that they were both born with, and to process the personal challenges that life had set him over the years.
From the wildness and the peace of the sea, looking back at the land, Toby gained a unique perspective on Britain and its neighbours, and learned what can happen when we trust and embrace the world around us. Moderate Becoming Good Later is both an epic adventure – sometimes choppy, constantly moving – and a personal voyage of discovery, with a cast list that includes old friends and new, plenty of wildlife, and the ever-present sea.
