Harvill Secker (2023)
ISBN 978-1787303317
Reviewed by Piers Warren
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This book was a real surprise. At the outset it appears to be a gentle memoir from a retired gardener, but what unfolded was a moving story peppered with wisdom and insight. The further I got through the book the more a sense of calm came over me. The author writes in such a direct, friendly and engaging way, that when the book was finished I found myself missing his company.
Early in the book we meet a small boy who discovers an old encyclopaedia in his garden shed and becomes entranced learning about the world beyond. In particular he is drawn to anything about nature and this is mirrored by his explorations in his garden where he discovers various creatures and plants. This boy is, of course, the author and each chapter of the book is prefixed alternately by RAIN (his young life which is often lacking in love and sometimes traumatic at the hands of his aggressive father referred to as Angry Dog) and GARDENER (his current life as a retired gardener in his sixties coming to terms with a new life away from hard physical toil).
Reading about his early life you long for him to be shown some love, or encouragement in his thirst for knowledge, particularly about nature. Writing about this stage of his life in the third person, and alternating this with his current thoughts in the first person works really well, and highlights how, no matter how difficult your start in life, the rest can still work out well. Indeed, he describes himself as a deeply happy man. This may sound strange from someone who had a difficult childhood, was thrown out of home at the age of sixteen and became homeless for a couple of years before trying a range of jobs, eventually settling on being a gardener, itself a lonely occupation. I think two key things have led to his happiness: his thirst for knowledge which led to him reading widely, including subjects like Buddhism and his ensuing daily meditations, but also his important relationship with his wife (a fiction writer), who he refers to frequently, and their growing love as they age.
It is a reminder that you don’t need wealth or an exciting lifestyle to achieve happiness. Peace and contentment can be found in simple activities such as sitting at an open kitchen door watching the spring rain fall on the garden, or lying in bed with the window open listening to the hooting of owls. It’s about slowing down and noticing the beauty around you. Valuing what you already have. Knowing it is enough.
At the end of the book he wonders if this will be his last. Time will tell. He has written two earlier books about his life and you may like to read them in the right order (I didn’t and am intrigued at how different the experience would have been if I’d read about his life more chronologically). His first book is A Life in Nature: Or How to Catch a Mole and this is followed by Seed to Dust which details his life as a professional gardener and leads nicely on to Spring Rain. All three are excellent and suffused with the same gentle wisdom.