2004
In his memoir, Patrick Lane takes readers through his first year of sobriety, expertly weaving memories of his hard early life in the interior of British Columbia with wondrous descriptions of the activity in his garden – his own and the lives of the plants, animals, and insects that also inhabit it. Lane has gardened for as long as he can remember, and the life of his garden has become inseparable from his own. A new bloom on a plant, a skirmish among the birds, the way a tree bends in the wind, and the slow, measured change of seasons, invariably bring to his mind an episode from his past. An observant naturalist, he lives on Vancouver Island, a place of uncommon beauty where the climate is mild, the air is soft, wildlife is still plentiful, and the growing season lasts all year.

“To read this book is to enter a state of enchantment.” —Alice Munro