Surfacing the stories of women who are silenced and overlooked, this beautiful volume from the author of Rootbound explores how female gardeners of the past have drawn strength and power from the natural world.
Longlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2023
Women have always gardened, but our stories have been buried with our work. Alice Vincent is on a quest to change that. To understand what encourages women to go out, work the soil, plant seeds and nurture them, even when so many other responsibilities sit upon their shoulders. To recover the histories that have been lost among the soil.
Why Women Grow is a much-needed exploration of why women turn to the earth, as gardeners, growers and custodians. This book emerged from a deeply rooted desire to share the stories of women who are silenced and overlooked. In doing so, Alice fosters connections with gardeners that unfurl into a tender exploration of women's lives, their gardens and what the ground has offered them, with conversations spanning creation and loss, celebration and grief, power, protest, identity and renaissance.
Wise, curious and sensitive, Why Women Grow follows Alice in her search for answers, with inquisitive fronds reaching and curling around the intimate anecdotes of others.
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 9781838855437
Number of pages: 304
Weight: 418 g
Dimensions: 220 x 144 x 29 mm
Edition: Main
A compelling, enriching read. Above all, this is a wonderful tribute to the perseverance and tenacity of women . . . a joy, full of restless curiosity about gardening, life, the longing for meaning, and the simple yet quietly feminist act of creating a space for yourself - Independent
Why Women Grow shows the beauty and grit of tending the soil in difficult times. Alice Vincent shows us that the cure for uncertainty is to get mud under our nails - KATHERINE MAY, author of WINTERING
A poignant exploration of the relationship between healing and growing, and the power and mystery of nature - New Statesman
Both tender yet fierce, this book is written with an acute sense of women's relationship to the land and how vital that is. I loved it - RAYNOR WINN, author of THE SALT PATH
Alice Vincent delves into what it is that makes women want to garden, uncovering what drives the urge to sow seeds and nurture plants, and by doing so goes on her own journey of discovery - Sunday Times
A conversational odyssey from a Canary Wharf balcony to Charleston, the Bloomsbury set's hangout, and a windswept smallholding in Denmark. Why Women Grow is the splendid-looking account of these encounters. The narrative unfurls like a vagabond anthology of potted biographies, confessions jostling alongside social commentary . . . If you enjoy window-shopping other people's lives, you'll relish this staggeringly diverse array of individuals. Vincent's affection for her subject is infectious - Telegraph
A beautiful meditation on the overlooked history of female gardeners, tracing how women have drawn strength and power from the natural world - i
Alice's writing is sublime. Gentle yet certain, warm yet fierce. Why Women Grow is an exquisite exploration of our many womanhoods and the reasons why some of us find our steadiness and solace in our relationship to the earth. I adored it - CLAIRE RATINON, author of UNEARTHED
One of those rare and special books that reminds you why, especially during trying times, you might suddenly find more joy in caring for a plant, or seeing the turn of Spring. Highly recommended! - EMMA GANNON
Beautifully written - Independent
Vincent sympathetically draws out the women who speak about loss, abusive relationships and racial prejudice . . . she brings women and their problems to life - Daily Express
A glorious, sweet-scented joy of a read, it's the literary equivalent of a stroll through a cornflower meadow on a warm summer's evening - Buzz Magazine
Why Women Grow is a wonderful ode to gardening, in which Alice charts her own emotional gardening journey but also that of dozens of other women of all ages and backgrounds. Whether you're a gardener or not, it will make you think about why and how we grow - SAM BAKER
The history of horticulture has often overlooked the contribution made by women, and this book offers a timely antidote - ELLE Decoration
Reading this is pure poetry - OLIA HERCULES
I loved this book down to my very bones. I’ll read anything about womanhood but this really excelled, beautifully tender yet equally powerful.
A book as much about gardening as it is about connection, womanhood and survival. If there's one thing to take from this book, it is that no matter what happens in life - good or bad - we can always find... More
A collection of stories about women who have devoted significant time to gardens. Vincent - the author - sent out a survey asking women about their gardens, why they grew them and what they meant to them. They then... More
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