Unearthed

On race and roots, and how the soil taught me I belong

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Waterstones.com
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 2 Jun 2022 | Archive Date 2 Jul 2022

Talking about this book? Use #Unearthed #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

*** A GARDENS ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR***

'A beautiful book about nature...I recommend it' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)


A powerful work of memoir and storytelling that will change the way we think about the natural world.

Unearthed is the story of how Claire Ratinon found belonging through falling in love with growing plants and reconnecting with nature.

Like many diasporic people of colour, Claire grew up feeling cut off from the natural world. She lived in cities, reluctant to be outdoors and stuck with the belief that success and status could fill the space where belonging was absent. Through learning the practice of growing food, she unpicked her beliefs about who she ought to be. Over her first year living in the English countryside and with the first vegetable patch of her own, she finds a pathway back to nature's embrace. And through growing the food of Mauritius, recording her parents' stories and exploring the history of the island, she also strengthens her connection to her homeland.

Unearthed urges us to look to the world outside for the belonging and home we seek. It is a heartfelt call to reconsider our history, the way we think about nature and the complex relationships we all have with the land.

*** A GARDENS ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR***

'A beautiful book about nature...I recommend it' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)


A powerful work of memoir and storytelling that will change the way we...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781784744472
PRICE £16.99 (GBP)
PAGES 304

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)

Average rating from 7 members


Featured Reviews

This is an absolutely glorious book! A beautifully told story about finding belonging in the natural world and growing roots. This is the nature memoir we all need, truly marvellous!

Was this review helpful?

'Unearthed' by Claire Ratinon is a brilliant work of memoir and nature writing which is beautifully written and highly perceptive. Ratinon originally worked as a documentary-maker before becoming interested in gardening and food growing, initially in New York and then in London. 'Unearthed' recounts her first year living and gardening in a Sussex village, with frequent glimpses back to her own upbringing, her parents and her Mauritian heritage.

Ratinon is fiercely engaged with questions of structural inequality and powerfully explores the way in which debates around nature and the environment can intersect with racism, from the disturbing rhetoric of ecofascism to the conflation of the terms 'non-native' and 'invasive' to describe plant species. She also discusses how people of colour are under-presented in nature writing and are more generally often seen not to belong in green spaces, as was shockingly demonstrated in the Central Park birdwatching incident which took place on the same day as the murder of George Floyd. Ratinon connects these ideas to hers and her family's experiences of racism and to the white supremacist ideals underpinning the colonial history of Mauritius which persist into this century.

Many sections of this book therefore make for challenging reading, but this is also a book full of hope and healing as Ratinon writes about the joy that can be found in plants and growing. I was particularly moved by her efforts to grow Mauritian plants as a tribute to her parents and a way of connecting with and reclaiming her heritage. Overall, I found this a very illuminating and important book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: