Why Women Grow
Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival
Alice Vincent
“Women grow because sometimes rage can only be mollified by digging until the sweat trickles down their backs. Women grow because it offers them control in a world determined to rid them of it”
Available as Hardback, eBook, Downloadable audio
A stunning meditation on why women are drawn to the soil, featuring contributions from Ali Smith, Hazel Gardiner and Cosey Fanni Tutti
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.
“A compelling, enriching read. Above all, this is a wonderful tribute to the perseverance and tenacity of women … a joy, full of restless curiosity about gardening, life, the longing for meaning, and the simple yet quietly feminist act of creating a space for yourself”
independent
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”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
“A poignant exploration of the relationship between healing and growing, and the power and mystery of nature”
new Statesman
“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
“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
Alice Vincent is a journalist and the author of three books, including Rootbound: Rewilding a Life, which was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize and named as one of the books of 2020 by the Financial Times and the Independent. A self-taught gardener, Alice is a columnist for the Guardian and New Statesman and writes for titles including Vogue and the Financial Times. She writes savour, a newsletter dedicated to the delicious things in life, and hosts the Why Women Grow and In Haste podcasts. She lives in South London.
@alicevincentwrites | @alice_emily
