The Garden Against Time

In Search of a Common Paradise

De: Olivia Laing

Narrado por: Olivia Laing

Named one of the most anticipated books of 2024 by the BBC, the Observer, Irish Times, the Guardian, and The Millions.

In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an eighteenth century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there's still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton's Paradise Lost to John Clare's enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.

But the story of the garden doesn't always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It's also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change. The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of gardens: not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud and pollen-laden.

©2024 Olivia Laing (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Dropped me in the world of Gardens

I have decided to come to gardening as I turn “middle age” and this gave me more of that vision of a garden steeped with history and personal transformative process that comes with it. I had no idea what to expect and this was such a great listening experience that let me to the poetry of Henry Clare, the dairies of Isis Otis, and to finally tackle Milton’s piece. I plan to buy this book now but I could listen to it over again and plan to.

I wish I could listen to Olivia Laing’s thoughts forever

The writing itself was beautiful and Olivia reads it with serenity but passion. She has such a wide array of interests and infinite curiosity that are wonderfully woven together to create a vivid picture of wrestling with your love for an activity and its long and varied history. Her references are incredible and I found myself constantly googling as I listened to see what books and gardens and people she was discussing. I feel like I could spend a year reading all the books she describes in such wonderful ways. Her parallels between experiences and references were what made me wish I could see how her mind works, it seems an interesting and beautiful place. So so happy I listened to this, it’s been a perfect send off to the summer!

A thrill of discovery

I’m not a gardener. I chose this as I write my own novel, thinking it could help me get inside of the head of someone who is. Laing is discoverer/ learner after my own heart. I loved the meandering paths she took me on throughout the book. I got a history of gardens, both generally and specifically, plus deep dives into seemingly unrelated topics that always ended up tying back. I got what I needed for my book and so much more. Her writing and performance were captivating and luxurious, dousing me with so much new knowledge. I loved every second of it.