|
Showing 1 - 4 of
4 matches in All Departments
Inspired by a traditional Japanese calendar which divides the year
into segments of four to five days, this book guides you through a
year of 72 seasons as they manifest in the British Isles. From
'Snowdrops emerge' in the first days of January to 'Tree skeletons
and sky' at the close of the year, each fleeting season is
epitomized by some natural phenomenon, be it a plant coming into
bud, a burst of birdsong, or a cobweb spangled by dew. Drawing on
folklore and tradition, herbal medicine and natural history, this
is a book to give, to treasure, to dip into, and to inspire your
own regular acts of noticing nature as it flourishes and fades and
rises again, through the seasons.
Lulah Ellender's garden in Sussex is an unruly but beloved place.
It is also not permanently her own. When just a few weeks after
losing her mother, Lulah is told that she and her family might have
to leave the rented house that they have made their home, her
immediate response is to freeze, to neglect the plants she has
spent years cultivating. But before long she finds herself back in
the garden, tidying, planning, and planting - putting down roots
even though she may not be there to see the shoots emerge. Drawing
on her intimate knowledge of this small plot of land in Sussex, as
well as her visits to the celebrated gardens close by - Charleston
and Sissinghurst, among others - Lulah explores the broader
relationship between gardener and garden. From artistic figures
such as Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf and Frida Kahlo to the
long-gone inhabitants of a ruined village nearby, Lulah considers
the ways in which tending the soil, growing plants, and tuning into
the unceasing rhythms of nature can help us live with uncertainty
and bring a sense of coming home, of feeling grounded, and
ultimately of finding one's time-bound place here on Earth. "A
lyrical delve into how gardening literally roots us to places and
helps us look towards an uncertain future with hope" - Kathy
Clugston "A much-needed book that offers a deep and moving insight
on motherhood, letting go, and how our gardens can help us" - Alice
Vincent, author of Rootbound
Many years after the death of her grandmother, Lulah Ellender
inherited a curious object - a book of handwritten lists. On the
face of it, Elisabeth's lists seemed rather ordinary - shopping
lists, items to be packed for a foreign trip, a tally of the eggs
laid by her hens. But from these everyday fragments, Lulah began to
weave together the extraordinary life of the grandmother she never
knew - a life lived in the most rarefied and glamorous of circles,
from Elisabeth's early years as an ambassador's daughter in 1930s
China, to her marriage to a British diplomat and postings in Madrid
under Franco's regime, post-war Beirut, Rio de Janeiro and Paris.
But it was also a life of stark contrasts - between the opulent
excess of embassy banquets and the deprivations of wartime
rationing in England, between the unfailing charm she displayed in
public and the dark depressions that blanketed her in private,
between her great appetite for life and her sudden, early death.
Throughout Elisabeth's adult life, the lists were a source of
structure and comfort. And now, as Lulah learns that she is losing
her own mother, she finds herself turning to her grandmother's
life, and to her much-travelled book of lists, in search of meaning
and solace. Elisabeth's Lists is both a vivid memoir and a moving
study of the familial threads that binds us, even beyond death.
Lulah Ellender's garden in Sussex is an unruly but beloved place.
It is also not permanently her own. When just a few weeks after
losing her mother, Lulah is told that she and her family might have
to leave the rented house that they have made their home, her
immediate response is to freeze, to neglect the plants she has
spent years cultivating. But before long she finds herself back in
the garden, tidying, planning, and planting - putting down roots
even though she may not be there to see the shoots emerge. Drawing
on her intimate knowledge of this small plot of land in Sussex, as
well as her visits to the celebrated gardens close by - Charleston
and Sissinghurst, among others - Lulah explores the broader
relationship between gardener and garden. From artistic figures
such as Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf and Frida Kahlo to the
long-gone inhabitants of a ruined village nearby, Lulah considers
the ways in which tending the soil, growing plants, and tuning into
the unceasing rhythms of nature can help us live with uncertainty
and bring a sense of coming home, of feeling grounded, and
ultimately of finding one's time-bound place here on Earth. "A
lyrical delve into how gardening literally roots us to places and
helps us look towards an uncertain future with hope" - Kathy
Clugston "A much-needed book that offers a deep and moving insight
on motherhood, letting go, and how our gardens can help us" - Alice
Vincent, author of Rootbound
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
Hampstead
Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, …
DVD
R66
Discovery Miles 660
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|