The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing

Review by Vivienne Dyer.

There is so much more to this book than the journey of restoring an abandoned and unloved walled garden designed by Mark Rumary, a renowned garden designer in the 1960s.

This is a book that is far reaching. It is a memoir and a social history of gardening. It’s about poetry and literature. It looks at the human suffering of slavery that funded huge estates. It is political and it is cultural.

This is an enchanting and thought-provoking book of great beauty and depth. I have learned a great deal from its reading. Olivia Laing writes beautifully and with passion. Whether you agree with her politics or not, it is a book that you will not forget.