Hidden Nature: Wainwright Prize 2018 Shortlisted

"I felt as if I'd paddled into a new country." The gardening author and Guardian columnist with a distinctive memoir in which she forsakes her garden and takes to paddling Birmingham's little-used canal network in an inflatable kayak. The time and space she allows herself for nature observation–kingfishers, waterlilies, pikes, freshwater mussels and blackberries are all beautifully reflected on–is mirrored by her exploration of her internal self, particularly in the light of leaving her marriage and coming out as gay. An enchanting book which somehow manages to be both gutsy and delightfully soothing.