This July, Verey Books, Ullswater’s independent bookshop welcomes author Victoria Bennett to read from and discuss her memoir, All My Wild Mothers on Wednesday 19 July at 7pm.
An intimate weaving of memoir and herbal folklore, ALL MY WILD MOTHERS is a story of re- wilding our wastelands, and the transformation that can happen when we do…
On October 19th in 2007, Victoria Bennett was looking forward to new motherhood. At seven months pregnant, she was excited about what was to come. But when the telephone rang, the news she received changed everything. Her eldest sister had died in a canoeing accident on the River Eden.
Five years later, struggling with complex grief, the demands of being a parent-carer for her young son, and the impact of deeper austerity, life feels very different to the future Victoria had imagined.
A move to a new social housing estate in rural Cumbria offers Victoria and her family a chance to rebuild their lives. Constructed over a former industrial site, at first the barren ground seems an unlikely place to sow the seeds of a new life but Victoria and her son set about transforming the rubble around them into a wild, apothecary garden. Daisy, for resilience. Dandelion, for strength against adversity. Red Campion, to ward off loneliness. Sow thistle, to lift melancholy. Borage, to bring hope in dark and difficult times.Stone by stone, seed by seed, they discover that sometimes life grows, not in spite of what is broken, but because of it.
ALL MY WILD MOTHERS is a story about finding strength in unsteady times, the resilience that can be learnt from the weeds that grow beneath our feet, and the joy that grows between the broken places of our lives.
Victoria Bennett said:
‘I made the garden, and I wrote this book because I needed to. A full-time care-giver, on a low income and struggling with illness and grief, the option of heading out on pilgrimage into the wilds to find my answers wasn’t open to me. If I was going to rebuild something out of all the things broken in my life, I had to do it where I was: a social housing estate built on top of disused industrial stonework. ALL MY WILD MOTHERS was slow-written over a decade, the same length of time it has taken to turn a pile of rubble and rock into a wild, apothecary garden. It is a story of radical hope, of reclaiming our wild spaces, and the joy that can grow not in spite of what is broken, but because of it.’
Victoria Bennett is aa award-winning disabled poet and author. She is the founder of Wild Women Press and the curator of the global Wild Woman Web project, an inclusive online space focusing on nature, connection, and creativity. After living in Cumbria for over 25 years, she recently made the move north to Orkney, where she lives with her husband and son. When not juggling writing, full-time care, and genetic illness, she can be found where the wild weeds grow, tending her new apothecary garden. ALL MY WILD MOTHERS her debut memoir.
Tickets costs £10 and include a welcome drink. To book, visit www.vereybooks.co.uk. Verey Books is located in Pooley Bridge on the shores of Ullswater. The book shop is open daily seven days a week from 10am – 5pm. Walking boots, bikes and book-curious children and dogs welcome. For further information, to book for these events or to buy gift vouchers or book subscriptions, visit www.vereybooks.co.uk