Simard's book is deeply personal, yet relatable. Somehow, she succeeds in the daunting task of connecting many threads; there is the story of her remarkable life, the people and events making her life possible, and there is the book itself, weaving everything together beautifully like a fugue. These people, events, passions, and obstructions connect together in this book and the reader is drawn in like water to moss!

This book is a memoir of a scientist who devoted her career to studying trees after she realised that traditional logging practices in her native Canada resulted in unhealthy looking trees. She discovered that trees are all connected via mycorrhizal fungi and are able to communicate with each other. Even more astonishingly, older trees are able to care for younger trees and even able to recognise which saplings have grown from their own seeds! The parallels with humans are clear. The book covers the author’s scientific experiments in easy-to-understand detail, as well as her struggles in getting the industry to accept her findings. It also looks at her own story, her relationship with trees, her family and health problems, as well as why she chose the career that she did. Although the book is quite science heavy, it is explained in clear, accessible language and having the stories of the author’s family life interspersed does prevent the book from becoming too dry. However, there is a lot of both science and memoir so readers who may prefer one over the other need to be prepared for this. It is a fascinating, thought-provoking book that really makes you appreciate the wisdom of nature. The author is clearly very passionate about her subject. I really enjoyed this book - it showed me that everything in nature has a purpose, even things that appear initially to be unimportant. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the web of nature and it’s intricacies. With thanks to Netgalley and Allen Lane for providing a free review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.