Spring Rain
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:2nd Feb '23
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- Paperback£10.99(9781529920482)
'Infused with wisdom and a deep love of nature... a how-to book for finding peace of mind' Saga
This is a story about the rain, a boy, an angry dog and a gardener, and how some of them find peace and freedom...
In Spring Rain, writer and gardener Marc Hamer shares his path from difficult beginnings to contentment, by way of family gardens.
As a young boy in a violent home, Marc found refuge in his small back garden. Here he kindled a lifelong love of nature and learning by observing the plants and insects in his private kingdom and reading the old encyclopaedias he found in the shed.
Marc has always found the answers to life's questions in the natural world, whether as a child watching ants, as a young man living rough in the countryside, or as a professional gardener creating places of calm and restoration for others. Now in his sixties, he is finally creating a garden for himself, at his home in Cardiff. In this beautiful and moving memoir, he considers what he has learned, from the spring of youth to his autumn years, and reflects on how we reconcile our childhoods with where we end up.
With line drawings by the author, Spring Rain encourages us back in tune with the natural world and offers both consolation and a guide to a happier life.
PRAISE FOR MARC HAMER:
'Wisdom...patterned with Hamer's gifts for observation, compression, and tone' New Yorker
'A sublime meditation on life, love, nature and family, woven with the wisdom of age gained through a life well lived' Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell
'Wholly original... on how to live, how to be calm and content with only a little, in a quietly humming garden' Daily Mail
A memoir infused with wisdom and a deep love of nature, as well as a how-to book for finding peace of mind * Saga *
Hamer's prose proceeds by association and by charismatic detail... but it also has a strong sense of arc, of change...He has an inclination to celebrate and express love-an inclination that seems built out of the humus of a difficult childhood...he is not an Adam cast out of the garden but "a boy cast out of hell," and into a series of gardens. * New Yorker *
An illuminating, powerful read * Woman's Own *
Marc Hamer knows how to live - simply, sparely, reverently, abundantly. Spring Rain is a tonic for the soul. * Sy Montgomery, author of How to Be A Good Creature *
Interwoven with the writer's deep-seated love of the natural world... I highlighted many passages while reading this book * Countryman *
A breathtaking narrative that transcends genre and geography. * Shelf Awareness * *
Hamer explains why a garden is not just a place of work - it's also a place of worship. -- Margaret Roach * New York Times *
Mr. Hamer has found his ideal calling in this book stitched together from small essays, a genre in which such capricious mutability of opinion is not only tolerated but encouraged. Through his words, we connect with the ultimate text, the landscape itself. * Wall Street Journal *
Hamer's signature prose, rich with precise, detailed observations that evoke the luminous wonder that informs and illuminates all being, is on full display * Vancouver Sun *
A book of great but tender power; acute, wise and intimately observed, speaking with the unmistakable voice of the land itself - which is equally unmistakably Hamer's own. And what a voice that is! -- Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild
ISBN: 9781787303317
Dimensions: 204mm x 138mm x 21mm
Weight: 363g
240 pages