The Writer's Garden

Behind the great books, someone was tending the garden.

You know the stories. Now step outside the rooms where they were written. The Writer’s Garden explores the gardens and outdoor spaces of 30 great writers, from the flower beds and vegetable plots to the landscapes and quiet hideaways that formed part of their creative lives. Visit Agatha Christie at Greenway, Virginia Woolf at Monk’s House and Louisa May Alcott at Orchard House, where Little Women took shape.

Specially commissioned photography and archive images take you across centuries and continents, revealing how differently writers used the spaces beyond their doors. There are gardens for retreat, observation and inspiration, and a fresh way into the lives behind your favourite books. Consider it literary visiting, without having to make conversation with the host.

Details

• By Jackie Bennett, with photography by Richard Hanson
• Hardback, published October 2023
• Explores the gardens and outdoor spaces of 30 writers, including novelists, poets and playwrights
• Full-colour illustrations, specially commissioned photography and archive images
• Features flower gardens, vegetable plots, landscapes and writing hideaways across centuries and continents
• Visits include Jane Austen’s Godmersham and Chawton, Agatha Christie’s Greenway, Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top, Roald Dahl’s Gipsy House and Virginia Woolf’s Monk’s House
• Other featured writers include Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, William Wordsworth, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Walker and Leo Tolstoy
• Explores the connections between writers’ outdoor spaces, lives and creative work

Perfect for

• Readers who want to know how their favourite authors lived between books
• Garden enthusiasts as curious about a writer’s vegetable plot as their writing desk
• Literary travellers building a wish list of houses, gardens and quiet corners to visit