I really enjoyed this book - the personal narrative woven into the fascinating stories about plants. I’ve re-read it and will do again. I’d recommend for anyone who likes memoir, plants / gardening, or just beautiful writing.

Alice Vincent's quiet, modest "a year in the life " account of overcoming her relationship break-up, figuring out who she is now and immersing herself into a softer, greener inner world, may appear frivolous, self indulgent even to the more cynical reader, but stop for a minute. What is she really telling us? Maybe Alive Vincent is being brave enough to question who she is and what she wants- she has a good job, good prospects- but to seek to change, to learn, to grow are admirable qualities we could all benefit from. Alice Vincent's book is quite fortuitous really, coming out during the coronavirus lockdown, when many people are struggling to fill their time-ticking-slowly, if you are, then this book might be for you. Gardening is learning how to grow; observing, understanding, accepting and patience and Alice Vincent brings these qualities to her writing, as well as her small urban garden. Rootbound has been compared to "Eat, Pray, Love" but I found myself thinking more about Sally Rooney's "Normal People"- both books unabashedly aimed at millenials- our generation has set them a difficult miasma to navigate through, which writers like Sally Rooney and Alice Vincent, along with Helen Jukes ("A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings") and Greta Thunberg, represent the new direction of travel for their generation. I grew up with The Good Life and John Seymour's "Self Sufficiency" but with land and space now an unachievable luxury for young urban dwellers, these ideals now seem obsolete, so I was fascinated and inspired by the urban green living spaces Alice Vincent writes about, The High Line in New York,Brockwell Park Community Environmental Centre, Harleyford Road Community Garden, Bonnington Square and The Paradise Project and how we can turn our city landscapes into these new green living spaces where we can nurture, thrive and learn how to grow with nature at the heart of our lives, the new Good Life, no longer self sufficient, but co-operative and community based. I would also recommend the following further reading: Common Ground, Rob Cowen The Outrun, Amy Liptrot A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings, Helen Jukes