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Winner of the Nan Shepherd Prize, moving between Trinidad and an idyllic English country garden, this lyrical and reflective book is about the search for home
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
A COUNTRYFILE CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOK
What is home?
It’s a question that has troubled Marchelle Farrell for her entire life. A longed-for career in psychiatry saw her leave behind the pristine beaches and emerald hills of Trinidad. Until, disillusioned, she uprooted again, this time for the peaceful English countryside.
The only Black woman in her village, Marchelle hopes to grow a new life. But when a worldwide pandemic and a global racial reckoning collide, the upheaval of colonialism that has led her to this place begins to be unearthed. Is this really home? And can she ever feel truly grounded here?
Drawn to her new garden, Marchelle begins to examine this complex and emotional question through the psychotherapeutic lens of her work. As her relationship with the garden deepens, she discovers that her two conflicting identities are far more intertwined than she had realised.
Full of hope and healing, Uprooting is a book about finding home where we least expect it, and which invites us to reconnect to the land – and ourselves.
“A beautiful memoir that shows how gardens can be a place to plant our most troubled feelings, to put down roots and to find peace”
Katherine May
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“A tender book, raw in some parts … Farrell generously shows the reader the value of openness, considering what we have to learn from other people and species”
Amanda Thomson
times Literary Supplement
“Glistening … This book will change how we speak of gardens, land and identity in myriad ways. An exquisite love letter [and] a rallying call”
irish Times
”Uprooting is a potent hymn to the importance of home and a deeply thoughtful offering on what our gardens can be”
Alice Vincent
“A wonderful book”
financial Times
Marchelle Farrell
Marchelle Farrell is a therapist, writer and amateur gardener. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, she has spent the last twenty years attempting to become hardy in the UK. She has trained and worked as a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist. When not neglecting it for the care of her young children, or her work in the community, Marchelle spends much of her time getting to know her country garden in Somerset and writing about the things the garden teaches her about herself. Her debut Uprooting won the Nan Shepherd Prize.
@afroliage | marchellefarrell.com
