**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S BEST BOOKS OF 2018**
Join renowned naturalist Peter Marren on an exciting quest to see
every species of wild plant native to Britain.
The mysterious Ghost Orchid blooms in near darkness among rotting
leaves on the forest floor. It blends into the background to the point
of invisibility, yet glows, pale and ghostly. The ultimate grail of
flower hunters, it has been spotted only once in the past twenty-five
years. Its few flowers have a deathly pallor and are said to smell of
over-ripe bananas.
Peter Marren has been a devoted flower finder all his life. While the
Ghost Orchid offers the toughest challenge of any wild plant, there were
fifty more British species Peter had yet to see, having ticked off the
first 1,400 rummaging in hedges, slipping down gullies and peering in
peat bogs. But he set himself the goal of finding the remaining fifty in
a single summer. As it turned out, the wettest summer in years.
This expert and emotional journey takes Peter the length and the
breadth of the British Isles, from the dripping ancient woods of the
New Forest to the storm-lashed cliffs of Sutherland. He paddles in
lakes, clambers up cliffs in mist and rain, and walks several hundred
miles, but does he manage to find them all?
Partly about plants, partly autobiography, Chasing the Ghost is also a
reminder that to engage with wild flowers, all we need to do is look
around us and enjoy what we see.
Praise for Chasing the Ghost
'Peter Marren is the unsung hero of Britain's nature writers' Stephen
Moss, author of Dynasties
'Jolly, quixotic and ends with real poignancy' Guardian
'A poignant reminder to us all to engage with the wild flowers that grow
around us' i Newspaper
