‘A nuanced invitation to see the city as a place of wild co-existence and possibility.‘ OLIVIA LAING
‘Meticulously researched and elegantly written’ VICTORIA BENNETT
From the streets of London to the stone gardens of Japan, the natural world has a way of making its presence known, even in unlikeliest of spaces.
Moving between past and present, JC recounts exhilarating stories of how nature breaks into our lives – from a snake in her garden, to a bird befriending a stranger. On her journey, JC discovers that the garden is a place of healing and one that provides hope in uncertain times.
Global in scope and deeply personal in voice, The New Eden is a significant work of nature writing that invites us into new way of experiencing the world around us.
PRAISE FOR JC Niala:
‘Moving and beautiful’ – Robert MacFarlane
‘Meticulously researched and elegantly written’ VICTORIA BENNETT
The New Eden
takes us on a journey into the surprising places where nature thrives.From the streets of London to the stone gardens of Japan, the natural world has a way of making its presence known, even in unlikeliest of spaces.
Moving between past and present, JC recounts exhilarating stories of how nature breaks into our lives – from a snake in her garden, to a bird befriending a stranger. On her journey, JC discovers that the garden is a place of healing and one that provides hope in uncertain times.
Global in scope and deeply personal in voice, The New Eden is a significant work of nature writing that invites us into new way of experiencing the world around us.
PRAISE FOR JC Niala:
‘Moving and beautiful’ – Robert MacFarlane
Reviews
JC Niala skilfully and tenderly weaves together history, memory, and ecology into a beautifully expansive act of care, reminding us that 'if nature keeps reaching for the light through the cracks in the pavement, then so can we' . . . An inspiring and important book.
The New Eden illustrates how we are all integral and entangled, and each of us with the capacity for something better, as we develop a more cohesive understanding of the natural world, and our role within it.
Original, profound and wise, this book is rich with knowledge and vitality
Seamlessly combines the intricacies of the personal with an overarching world view of a natural world that is all around us - a love letter to nature but not the kind seen at a distance, but that which exists in kissing distance.
Profound, joyful, quietly radical and moving, The New Eden challenges the colonial inheritance of what it means to belong to and care for the earth we are all born onto, and turns us in a new and hopeful direction.
The New Eden is both wonderfully lyrical and precise, woven with poetic encounters and feminist narratives of resistance. It reminds us that 'nature will thrive in the most unexpected places,' and that the divide between what we perceive as wild and urban is porous, with nature achieving a harmonious balance that is also reflected in Niala's stunning writing itself.
'A nuanced invitation to see the city as a place of wild co-existence and possibility.'