Land Beneath the Waves

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What to expect

A moving, honest and revealing memoir of living with chronic illness, and an examination of the ways a relationship with the natural world can affect us, from debut author and Guardian country diarist Nic Wilson

When Nic Wilson begins researching the history of her local landscape and its wildlife, the last thing she wants to do is consider her own past. But as she unearths tales of giant sequoias, puss moths, nightingales and chalk streams, Nic realizes her affinity with the nearby wild began as a way to handle growing up with a mother who lived with a debilitating chronic illness.

Now in her forties, and struggling with mental and physical health herself, Nic revisits her childhood to trace the influence of the natural world on her life. As she grapples with revelations from the past, the boundaries between self and land become increasingly porous, and the lure of the wetlands around her home threatens to engulf her. Can she find the strength to face the waves of chronic illness - past and present - and learn to reach for steady ground?


With the natural world facing more threats than ever before, Land Beneath the Waves inspires us to develop a meaningful bond with our local natural spaces and landscapes, illuminating a hopeful path towards a better future for human and non-human life.

Critics Review

What happens when a nature writer turns their attention to the most unnerving of all landscapes - those that exist in our bodies and minds? Nic Wilson has done just that, exploring internal thickets of tangled nature and nurture, wild gardens where the composted past feeds the present, marshes of intermingled memory and meaning. The result is a book of great courage, curiosity, discovery and connection.
Amy-Jane Beer, author of The Flow
Both ordinary and profound, Land Beneath the Waves charts a process most of us never manage: to give a true account of ourselves. It's also an illuminating testimony of chronic illness, one that fellow sufferers will recognise and the rest of us can only be enlarged by.
Melissa Harrison, novelist, nature writer and children’s author
A beautiful, moving memoir highlighting the amazing relationships humans have with the natural world, and what they mean for us.
Kate Bradbury, author, journalist and TV presenter
A deeply honest, forensically detailed account of a life blighted by ill-health, yet redeemed by a profound connection with nature - a delight to read.
Stephen Moss, author and naturalist
Land Beneath the Waves is a tender portrait of how a family grows in tandem with the natural world. The body, here, is re-storied: it becomes both an object of contemplation in the Wilson's quest to make sense of chronic illness across generations, and the stage for vital, lively connection with plants, water, land, and place. It is hopeful, vibrant, and alive.
Jessica J. Lee, author and environmental historian
A moving, honest and compassionate story of illness, and the beauty and succour to be found in the natural world. Nic reveals the complexity of our relationships with wildlife and landscapes, which does not simply offer a cure but can help us meet the challenges of chronic ill health.
Patrick Barkham, author of Wild Child
When our health fails, nature seems harsh, yet in Land Beneath the Waves Nic Wilson offers a tender love song to both the body and the wild world, even when - especially when - both are under threat. Exploring the complex territories of debilitating illness, motherhood and finding healing in nature, her writing reclaims the great outdoors for those who so often are shut in. Hopeful and brave.
Merryn Glover, author of Of Stone and Sky
This one's different. It's not another book about the soothing power of the wild (view them with suspicion) but a taut, unself-pitying inquiry into the nature of nature, the nature of suffering, the caprice of memory and the slipperiness of identity: a sort of theodicy that mentions nightingales but not God. Nothing in the real, living world is incidental, and because the book is a real, living thing, nothing here is incidental either. It's a tightly woven ecosystem of woods, anxiety, hedges and hope. It will endure long after more emollient books have been pulped.
Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wild
A powerful record of the way joy in the natural world may counterbalance intergenerational illness and systemic failures. Through reconciling long-buried childhood experiences and accepting the complex reality of her own body, Nic Wilson offers a vital retort to 'the myth that worthwhile encounters with the natural world only happen to wild people in wild places'. An important and necessary addition to writing about nature and illness.
Polly Atkins, author of Some of Us Just Fall
A brave and beautifully written memoir of a life lived close to nature, despite the significant challenges imposed by chronic illness and pain. In Land Beneath the Waves Nic Wilson courageously explores the fragmented memories of her past, to better understand her relationships with herself, her family, and the natural world; a journey both deeply moving and full of hope. I loved this book.
Brigit Strawbridge Howard, author of Dancing with Bees
I loved Land Beneath the Waves. An honest and touching memoir, beautifully observed and written, and a wonderful advertisement for the importance of connection with the natural world.
Lev Parikian, writer and conductor
The natural world beats to its own rhythm, and when we tune in, we change state to become part of something much bigger than ourselves. When facing daily pain, both mental and physical, that can be a godsend. In Land Beneath the Waves, Nic Wilson demonstrates with gritty realism and deep feeling just how important nature is, no matter what our state of health. A moving book with depth and perception, and laced through with hope. Nature as friend, comforter and counsellor.
Mary Colwell, environmentalist author and producer
A brutally honest story that demonstrates why nature keeps us afloat. Nic Wilson is one of the most exciting emerging nature writers, her debut is an unstoppable tide, washing over the reader with pain but always with joy and kindness.
Jack Wallington, author and landscape and garden designer
An incredible journey, beautifully written, of nature's transformative powers.
Benedict Macdonald, author of Rebirding
With Nic Wilson's memory fragmented, her story is one that illustrates how our deep connection with the world around us is innate and how, irrespective of memory, it has the power to shape who we are. A heartfelt, honest memoir, lovingly told, that will invite you to value the nature on your doorstep.
Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author of Fledging
Touching and beautiful. A courageous reflection on a life spent managing long-term illness and an unreliable body, and the remarkable ways that nature can hold a family together.
Ben Hoare, writer and editor
I was captivated and deeply moved by this wonderful piece of writing - a balm indeed.
Robin Ince, author and broadcaster
Nic Wilson guides us time-slipping through her world, guided by botany, birdsong and ancient geology. A journey through overlooked snickets, the edgelands of chronic pain and anxiety and, ultimately, to finding belonging in the margins.
Doreen Cunningham, author of Soundings
A vivid account of intergenerational trauma and how being attuned to nature can help you get through.
Sally Huband, writer and naturalist
Land Beneath the Waves is a beautiful account of a deep and, at the same time, ordinary connection with nature.
Carol Donaldson, author of The Volunteers

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