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Burn
What to expect
Ben Short has a successful career in advertising, a flat in a trendy part of London, a flashy motorbike. But after years of suffering with anxiety, he's a wreck. A drastic change is needed.
For a time, he finds solace working with a forester, then as an apprentice to a Gypsy woodman, setting up home in a dilapidated wagon with just a rescue dog for company. However, it is not until he feels the call of the furnace, a glowing charcoal kiln in the Dorset woods, that he can truly re-forge his thoughts, put the years of suffering behind him, and start afresh by immersing himself in the old ways of woods and fire.
Exquisitely written and deeply honest, Burn is a hopeful story of transformation, a celebration of manual work and craft, and a love letter to the English countryside.
(p)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Critics Review
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Lyrical, moving and never self-pitying . . . a lovely book.
The Times
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Short's story is as much about work as it is escape and landscape; he illuminates the value of doing rather than thinking. Beautifully written, Burn is melancholy and hopeful in equal measure. Like taking a forest ramble in changeable weather, reading it leaves you feeling ruffled but alive
Mail on Sunday
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An intriguing, touching and beautifully written book, about how it feels to be in a dark place spiritually, to move into the woods but enter an increasingly lighter place, to be practising the ancient skills of coppicing and charcoal burning, to love a dog.
Ruth Pavey
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In this candid memoir, [Ben] learns the benefits of living simply . . . above all, Ben discovers the joys of risking everything in the search for personal happiness.
The Countryman
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A most excellent read. Destined to become a classic in its field, much like Walter Rose's memoir, The Village Carpenter
Sean Hellman
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An extraordinary and powerful book, full of vitality. Every page celebrates the way traditional skills can shape who we are.
Tristan Gooley
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 4.5
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5.0 4.0
This book won’t be for everyone, as in some senses not alot happens. Man has a great job in the city he doesn’t like, struggles with mental health and eventually finds his true calling in craft and the woods. However, Ben’s story is told beautifully and you’d be hard hearted not to be drawn in, touched and warmed by his story - not to mention perhaps a little envious of final destination. His mental health aside, Ben’s immersion in the woods and a disappearing way of life is part living heritage, part cousin to Peter Wohlleben’s Heartbeat of Trees and part love-letter to Dorset. His reading of his story is authentic and well done, although, if I’m being picky, the editor occasionally needed to place a pause between events/chapters. Sometimes I wanted more unglamorous detail: how did Ben do his washing? Did his Mum bring him food parcels? And sometimes his isolation seemed extreme, and ultimately - and perhaps understandably - a little selective, as the brief acknowledgements at the end of the book reward with was left unsaid. I could have listened to Ben’s stories and descriptions for many more hours staying immersed in the remotest parts of Dorset populated by very English characters. In summary, Burn is a wonderful read and ultimately, his message of have courage, you are not alone, is beautiful. It’ll be a hard book to beat this year.
Jane Cowan 2022-05-28
Details
- Author
- Ben Short
- Narrator
- Ben Short
- Duration
- 8 hours 54 minutes
- Release Date
- 28 April 2022
- ISBN
- 9781529370362
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Genre
- Memoirs, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Natural and wild gardening
- Rating
- 5.0(2 reviews)
- Narration
- 4.5(2 reviews)
Synopsis
From advertising exec in the city to charcoal burner in the woods: a frank and inspiring memoir about letting go of what we're told to want, risking everything to find happiness and the brutal salve of nature.I came to the woods over a decade ago. I came to the woods because there was a fire in my head.On the outside, Ben Short looks like he has it all - a successful career in advertising, a flat in a trendy area of London, an expensive motorbike ... But inside, he's a wreck. Years of suffering with an anxiety disorder and depression have broken him, and his 'creative' career has become sterile and suffocating. A drastic change is needed.Like his neighbour's rescue hawk, he acts on instinct and escapes the city. For a time, he takes on odd jobs - gardening, hedge-laying and labouring in the Cambridgeshire Fens and in the Devon countryside, trying to find somewhere he belongs. That is until he feels the call of the furnace: a glowing charcoal kiln in the West Dorset woods, where he can re-forge his thoughts, put the years of suffering behind him and start afresh by immersing himself in the ancient ways of woods and fire. He lives in huts and old wagons in the woods, hauling water from wells and foraging for his supper. But this is no idyll - the road is hard, the work back-breaking, the woods dark and brimming with powerful energies. Exquisitely written and laced with folklore and the history of burning, the right way to lay a hedge and the age-old wisdom of the woods, Burn is a hopeful story of transformation, a celebration of manual work and craft, and a love letter to the English landscape.(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
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