‘Wow! A beautiful memoir of one small plot of land and one complex human mind; a story of our interconnection and an ambitious search for the truth.’ - Amy Liptrot
‘A powerfully confessional memoir that excavates important truths about our lives, our selves and our dreams - and what happens when we have to let go.’ – Clover Stroud
‘The 'how I moved to a field and had a breakdown book' that desperately needed to be written. Incredibly bold, brave, poetic and absolutely beautiful: a fascinating insight into the mind.’ – Sophie Heawood
‘Earthed is Rebecca Schiller’s powerful, poetic meditation on the process of falling apart, and her love letter to the land that rooted and rebuilt her. A deeply affecting read.’ - Leah Hazard
‘A moving, intriguing and beautifully conceived exploration of place, person and planet through time, Earthed speaks to the struggles of holding on during dark days and the power of hope in hard times.’ - Rob Cowen
‘This is a hard and beautiful read. The tough truth about the simple life.’ – Eva Wiseman
Earthed
by Rebecca Schiller
Elliott & Thompson / 10 March 2022 / paperback / memoir / £9.99
Can the good life ever be the simple life?
After moving to a countryside smallholding, Rebecca Schiller finds that her family's new life – despite its beautiful surroundings – is far from simple. Overwhelmed by what she has taken on and reeling from the turmoil in the wider world, she turns to her land, searching for answers and hope.
Here, she begins to uncover the hidden layers of her plot's history – and of herself. As the seasons shift, the ground under Rebecca's boots offers hard lessons, revealing brutal truths about the past, our planet and the seeds she holds in her hands.
Yet as a New Year arrives, offering a life-changing diagnosis and a global emergency, Rebecca begins to move forwards with understanding: the smallholding has become her anchor and her family's shelter; an ancient oak tree her compass and guide. Because when we find ourselves lost, we all need something to hold on to – a way to keep ourselves earthed.
About Rebecca Schiller
Rebecca Schiller is an author and journalist. She is co-founder and trustee of the human rights charity Birthrights and a regular contributor to the Guardian. Rebecca and her family raise a motley crew of goats, geese, ducks and chickens and work their Kent smallholding to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers and restore wildlife to the land.
Talking Points
Mental health and the cost of hidden neurodiversity:
in a time of pandemic as well as personal, political and environmental crisis
exposing the destructive burden of undiagnosed ADHD
the feminist issues raised by widespread underdiagnosis in women and girls and the extraordinary pressures of lockdown motherhood
the highs and lows of smallholding as therapy: working the land, tending livestock and growing food to rebuild after breakdown and overwhelm
The real story of the not-so-simple life:
exploring our impulse to go back to nature, self-sufficiency, sowing and growing in uncertain times
the practical lessons and joys of smallholding life: from breeding goats and 'counting chickens', to growing food as a family
an unflinching look at the back-breaking, marriage-straining reality of following our post-pandemic escape-to-the-countryside dreams
Uncovering our land's hidden histories and politics:
stories of the neglected women of our land's past and how their voices can help us today
tracing an English country garden back to our brutal, colonial roots
looking towards an uncertain future where climate change, political division, race inequality and pandemics collide
asking how to live, love and thrive in complicated times of hope, fear and change
The linocut on the jacket of Earthed was designed and painted by Anne Fewster using natural inks and pigments made from the author's smallholding, land and garden.