May 19th 12 noon to 12.30pm – Jude Piesse will be signing copies of her new book ‘The Ghost in the Garden’ here at Burway Books.
‘The Ghost in the Garden – in search of Darwin’s lost garden’‘The forgotten garden (The Mount in Shrewsbury) that inspired Charles Darwin becomes the modern-day setting for an exploration of memory, family, and the legacy of genius.
Blending biography, nature writing, and memoir, The Ghost in the Garden traces the origins of the theory of evolution and uncovers the lost histories that inspired it, ultimately evoking the interconnectedness of all things.
Jude Piesse is an academic and writer. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and a PhD in English Literature from the University of Exeter. She has published widely on nineteenth-century literature and culture, including her book about emigration literature, British Settler Emigration in Print, 1832-1877 (OUP, 2016). Though she grew up in Shropshire, she did not discover Darwin’s childhood garden until she moved to Shrewsbury with her young family to take up her first lectureship. She now works as a lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool John Moores University.
As usual we will have the windows open
all Covid-19 guidelines will be adhered to
Customers wear face masks (unless exempt)
Queue considerately
Maintain social distancing
Follow instructions inside and outside the shop
Follow all necessary hygiene measures
Please Note for this event we will allow up to 5 customers in the bookshop at any one time.
If you are unable to attend and would still like a signed copy we can reserve one for you, advance payment please – telephone 01694 723388 to pay by card or request details of payment via BACS.
‘ There are two ghosts in the garden here: the young Charles aboard the Beagle, writing salt-stained letters to his sisters, and the figure of Jude Piesse herself, author of this tender and unexpected memoir. Slightly at sea herself in a new job, at one point marooned in her new office by flood water, she gives a vivid picture of the obsessiveness of research: the hallucinogenic quality of the trees as she paces the overgrown garden, the feel of the manuscripts as she pores over the sisters’ letters in nine-hour stints in the library, a young woman navigating a course through early motherhood and the world of academe.’