Unearthed
  • Published: 26 September 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529114867
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

Unearthed

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

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A beautiful work of nature-writing, memoir and storytelling that will change the way we think about the natural world, from food grower Claire Ratinon

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

Like many diasporic people of colour, Claire Ratinon 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.

But a chance encounter with a rooftop farm was the start of a journey that caused her to rethink the life she'd been creating and her beliefs about who she ought to be. Enlivened, she turned her hand to growing food in London before finding herself yearning for a small parcel of land to call her own.

Unearthed tells the story of her leaving the city for the English countryside - and her first garden - in the hope of forging a pathway towards the embrace of the natural world and a sense of belonging cultivated on her own terms.

'Ratinon's story will change hearts and minds' Alice Vincent

'A beautiful book about nature...I recommend it' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)
  • Published: 26 September 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529114867
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

About the author

Claire Ratinon

Claire Ratinon is an organic food grower and writer based in East Sussex. After a chance encounter with a rooftop farm while living in New York City, Claire discovered her love for growing vegetables. She returned to London, where she left her career in TV documentary production, and has been pursuing her passion for plants ever since.

Claire has grown organic vegetables for the Ottolenghi restaurant, Rovi; delivered workshops to audiences including East London primary schools, community centres and corporate clients; given talks for organisations including The Garden Museum, the Royal College of Art and West Dean College; as well as having appeared on Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time. Her writing has been featured in Waitrose Food Magazine, Bloom and The Modern House Journal and her first book, How to Grow Your Dinner Without Leaving The House, was published in 2020.

Praise for Unearthed

It is rare for a book to come along that tells a story that has never been heard before. Unearthed is just that and more. Deeply felt, deeply told, deeply generous, Claire Ratinon's story of trying to find a place of belonging in a post-colonial landscape is one that will change hearts and minds. How vitally we have needed this narrative, how beautifully it has been told.

Alice Vincent, author of Rootbound

Exquisite

Nova Reid, Author of The Good Ally

A beautiful book about nature, and how reengaging with the foundational experience of our species of growing and cultivating crops can be a source of healing and spiritual truth... I recommend it

Afua Hirsch

Poignant and groundbreaking... we are tenderly offered a new possibility of deeper wonder, awe and profound hope as we unearth the truth that grows in all our gardens

The Garden

A beautiful work of nature-writing, memoir and storytelling.

Country & Town House

This is an outstanding work of storytelling and nature writing. It's also a hard-hitting and educational read

Gardens Illustrated, *Books of the Year*
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