Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKSHOP.ORG INDIE CHAMPION AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
THE TIMES / WATERSTONES TOP 10 BESTSELLER
A RHS TOP 10 GARDENING BOOK TO GIFT THIS CHRISTMAS
A GARDENS ILLUSTRATED BEST BOOK FOR 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 Review

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 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 Beautifully written * * Independent * * 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 * * Alice Vincent has cultivated something rare and precious: a personal, profound argument for the strength of women who create and hold space in the outdoors, grow something from where there was nothing, and feel themselves held by the earth. Why Women Grow is a powerful and pure life force of a book. It lingers in the mind as a healing, and a celebration -- CHARLOTTE RUNCIE, author of SALT ON YOUR TONGUE A collection of stories about women, roots, soil, earth and belonging, Vincent's intimate, important new book reminds us that in a world of disconnection, we are designed to feel the opposite. This book is proof that the act of growing new life in the earth can transform us all -- SARAH LANGFORD, author of ROOTED 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 Alice Vincent is one of the most beautiful, honest, quietly revolutionary writers I know. This book is utterly exquisite; more full of wisdom and deep nourishment than I have words for. This book is a gift in the most true sense - something offered from the heart - and with feeling. I can't wait to see what comes next -- KERRI NI DOCHARTAIGH, author of THIN PLACES Vincent's story-telling powerfully illuminates the experiences of women, upending taboos in an original and deeply refreshing way, and exploring the relationship between women and the rest of nature. It's a beautiful, generous, important book that will make women feel less alone and offers fascinating, astute, lesser-told perspectives in Vincent's evocative and sensuous prose -- LUCY JONES, author of LOSING EDEN Alice Vincent has written something wonderful. Why Women Grow is a book that not only presents us with the beauty of the earth but asks one of the most fundamental questions to the human condition: what does it mean to create? I was delighted to travel around the country with her, digging into people's lives, private spaces and plants. We need more books about women, wombs and our role in the world; Alice has done that with charm, humour and an impressive depth of knowledge -- NELL FRIZZELL, author of THE PANIC YEARS With an infectious curiosity and openheartedness, Alice Vincent delves into the complex and fascinating reasons women tend their gardens. She illuminates stories of defiance, creativity and resilience as she excavates what it means to be a woman on the cusp of a new life stage -- LULAH ELLENDER, author of GROUNDING A beautiful book both inside and out. Writer and gardener Alice Vincent . . . meets women across Britain to talk about the herbs, the flowers and the patches of space - big and small - that allow women to touch the earth, find their power and revel in the simplest but most satisfying of actions * * Stylist * * Praise for Rootbound: Reading this book is like breathing fresh spring air. Rootbound is achingly honest and earthily good, a beautiful hymn to wild hope, strength and tenderness, in nature and in ourselves. I loved it -- CHARLOTTE RUNCIE, author of SALT ON YOUR TONGUE Breathtakingly beautiful writing about the natural world . . . Vincent's championing of female gardeners from eras past is both cheering and fascinating * * i * * Unrestrained, exuberant, vigorous, forthright -- HELEN JUKES, author of A HONEYBEE HEART HAS FIVE OPENINGS