Olivia Laing cover reveal

Olivia Laing’s The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise is published by Picador in the UK on 2 May, and by Norton in the US on 25 June. The response from early readers has been inspiring:

“A sharp and enthralling memoir of the garden’s contradiction: dream and reality, life and death, the fascination of cultivation and the political horrors that it can disguise.” Neil Tennant

“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, The Kitchen Diaries

“The most magical writing, intimate, insightful, learned and brilliant.” Jeremy Lee, Cooking

“An extraordinary and important work. I felt doubly alive after reading it. The book is an inspiration.” Celia Paul, Self-Portrait

“No one writes with more energy and ecstasy than Olivia Laing. This book is what we need right now: paradise, regained.” Philip Hoare, RisingTideFallingStar

In the words of Olivia herself, “This is a book about garden-making, but also about the long and dangerous dream of Eden, paradise on earth. It’s about what that dream has cost, the way that enclosures and slavery facilitated the garden of power. But it’s also full of radical alternatives and fertile possibilities, of queer sanctuaries and gardens that were refuges from war. It’s about how and why we make beauty, it’s alive with flowers and bees.”

Pre-order in UK and US from the links on Olivia’s website.