For the gardener in your life, or for anyone who loved Late
Migrations and H is for Hawk
A stunning meditation on gardening and the wisdom of plants, "that rare
book that will appeal to nonfiction readers everywhere ... Candid,
tender, thoughtful and absorbing." --Shelf Awareness (STARRED Review)
With "chapters... [that] shimmer like lantern slides, lit with
luminous imagery ... Seed to Dust is an invitation to read this world
as Mr. Hamer does--with a close eye to what changes, and what does
not."--The Wall Street Journal
Marc Hamer has nurtured the same 12-acre garden in the Welsh countryside
for over two decades. The garden is vast and intricate. It's rarely
visited, and only Hamer knows of its secrets. But it's not his garden.
It belongs to his wealthy and elegant employer, Miss Cashmere. But the
garden does not really belong to her, either. As Hamer writes, "Like a
book, a garden belongs to everyone who sees it."
In Seed to Dust, Marc Hamer paints a beautiful portrait of the garden
that "belongs to everyone." He describes a year in his life as a country
gardener, with each chapter named for the month he's in. As he works, he
muses on the unusual folklores of his beloved plants. He observes the
creatures who scurry and hide from his blade or rake. And he reflects on
his own life: living homeless as a young man, his loving relationship
with his wife and children, and--now--feeling the effects of old age on
body and mind.
As the seasons change, Hamer also reflects on the changes he has
observed in Miss Cashmere's life from afar: the death of her husband and
the departure of her children from the stately home where she now lives
alone. At the book's end, Hamer's connection to Miss Cashmere changes
shape, and new insights into relationships and the beauty and brutality
of nature emerge.
Just like all good books and gardens, Seed to Dust is filled
with equal parts life and death, beauty and decay, and every reader will
find something different to admire.
