The Guilty Gardener: A memoir of love, waxwings and rewilding

Annabel Christie is wracked by guilt. It was rediscovering her late father’s letter after thirty years, which finally did it. A thunderbolt to Annabel’s conscience, the letter was a reminder of her idyllic childhood spent in a wonderful, wild garden, her lost love for nature, and the broken bond between father and daughter. Her feeling of hopelessness for not doing enough to protect the natural world from the catastrophic impact of climate change and biodiversity loss is about to change. Annabel sets out on her personal journey of redemption reconnecting with wildlife and the environment in the one place she can make a real difference – her own barren, neglected garden. Guided by her eccentric, octogenarian neighbour, Ron, and with the ghost of her father never far from her thoughts, Annabel begins to learn how to rewild. Her moving and funny green odyssey shows how guilt can be transformed into a force for good, and how the regenerative power of nature will not only restore a garden but can also rebuild hope, love and life itself.