The Garden Against Time: The Number 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

Olivia Laing

ISBN 10: 1529066700 / ISBN 13: 9781529066708

Published by Pan Macmillan, United Kingdom, London, 2025

The Garden Against Time is the No.1 Sunday Times bestseller from acclaimed writer Olivia Laing; a passionate, epic exploration of the power and possibilities of gardens. 'What a wonderful book this is' Nigel Slater A book for thinking gardeners everywhere Mary Keen When Olivia Laing began to restore a walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants, the work drew them into an exhilarating investigation of paradise and its long association with gardens. Moving between the real and the imagined, from Miltons Paradise Lost to a wartime sanctuary in Italy, to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth. But the story of the garden can also be a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams, from the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the vision of a common Eden cultivated by William Morris. New modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of radical change. This book is what we need right now: paradise, regained Philip Hoare Every generation gets one perfect book about gardens and this is ours Julia Bell Prepare yourself to be enchanted Jilly Cooper The most magical writing Jeremy Lee I felt doubly alive after reading it Celia Paul Quite literally unputdownable Jinny Blom. Seller Inventory # GOR014291977

Synopsis:

'What a wonderful book this is. I loved the enchanting and beautifully written story but also the fascinating and thoughtful excursions along the way.' – Nigel Slater

‘A garden contains secrets, we all know buried elements that might put on strange growth or germinate in unexpected places. The garden that I chose had walls, but like every garden it was interconnected, wide open to the world . . .’

In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore a walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work drew her into an exhilarating investigation of paradise and its long association with gardens. Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s Paradise Lost to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.

But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change.

The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud and pollen-laden.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Garden Against Time: The Number 1 Sunday...
Publisher: Pan Macmillan, United Kingdom, London
Publication Date: 2025
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Fine