My Body is a Meadow

A painfully honest assessment of how the damage done to Disabled people mirrors that being done to the environment, the barriers both encounter and in turn how these barriers could be overcome

Maria Kett, The Conversation

In My Body is a Meadow, Bethany Handley guides us through the wilder places of Cymru while vividly describing how inaccessible they remain to Disabled people. My Body is a Meadow moves through rage, laughter, grief and joy and makes it resoundingly clear that access to the outdoors must mean access for all. With a poet's skill and a naturalist's understanding, Bethany Handley celebrates the way in which disability can deepen a connection with nature and leaves us in no doubt that ecocide and societal violence towards marginalised people have the same root cause. Bethany Handley's writing is a blast of fresh air in the world of nature writing and My Body is a Meadow is a change making book

Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean

A stunning exploration of longing for freedom, finding a home in your body and walking your own path in life even when physical and social barriers can make it seem like an impossible feat. Handley's writing powerfully dismantles the idea that interdependence is something we should fear, and instead shows us how the human condition is intertwined with the natural world and reflects its own fight for survival during these pivotal years

Pippa Stacey, author of How To Do Life With A Chronic Illness

Part memoir, part manifesto, part social and natural history of land access and disability, My Body Is A Meadow is an essential celebration of interdependence and interconnectedness. Beautiful, informative and urgent, this is a book that should change conversation and possibilities both for nature and for humans, and how we live together and care for each other in a more just world.

Polly Atkin, author of The Company of Owls

Important, inclusive, and beautifully written, this memoir details the life of a Disabled writer as she explores the links between disability and nature

Love Reading

Compelling and change-making, this book is an essential read for those who love the outdoors.

Buzz Magazine

Beautiful, enlightening, energetic, challenging and essential ... It is a book that chronicles Beth's journey back to nature, with a disability, within a world which doesn't consider access to nature in the right way ... This book should be required reading for everyone, especially politicians and educators. Actually scrap that we all should read this book

Katriona O'Sullivan, Author of Poor and Hungry