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Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery
Leaving her garden to the mercy of the slugs, award-winning writer Alys Fowler set out in an inflatable kayak to explore Birmingham's canal network, full of little-used waterways where huge pike skulk and kingfishers dart.
Her book is about noticing the wild everywhere and what it means to see beauty where you least expect it. What happens when someone who has learned to observe her external world in such detail decides to examine her internal world with the same care?
Beautifully written, honest and very moving, Hidden Nature is also the story of Alys Fowler's emotional journey: above all, this book is about losing and finding, exploring familiar places and discovering unknown horizons.
Her book is about noticing the wild everywhere and what it means to see beauty where you least expect it. What happens when someone who has learned to observe her external world in such detail decides to examine her internal world with the same care?
Beautifully written, honest and very moving, Hidden Nature is also the story of Alys Fowler's emotional journey: above all, this book is about losing and finding, exploring familiar places and discovering unknown horizons.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
61 people are currently reading
1143 people want to read
About the author
Alys Fowler
19 books93 followersAlys Fowler trained at the Horticultural Society, the New York Botanical Garden and the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. After finishing her training, she worked as a journalist for the trade magazine, Horticulture Week, and then joined the Gardeners' World team as a horticultural researcher.
Alys is a gardener who loves food. She has an allotment and an urban back garden with two chickens, lots of flowers and plenty of vegetables. Her inspiration for urban gardening comes from her time volunteering in a community garden on the Lower East side in Manhattan, New York City. Much of the ethic, thrift and spirit she encountered there is found in her work today. She is author of several books and writes a weekly column on gardening for the Guardian.
Alys is a gardener who loves food. She has an allotment and an urban back garden with two chickens, lots of flowers and plenty of vegetables. Her inspiration for urban gardening comes from her time volunteering in a community garden on the Lower East side in Manhattan, New York City. Much of the ethic, thrift and spirit she encountered there is found in her work today. She is author of several books and writes a weekly column on gardening for the Guardian.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
July 12, 2017
(2.5) I knew of Alys Fowler as a gardening columnist for the Guardian, but was intrigued to read her memoir mostly because she’s part of a small but increasingly visible body of people who have changed their sexual orientation – or woken up to the truth of it for the first time – a bit later in life. (I hope Molly Wizenberg will write a memoir about her experience, for instance.) Initially content with her Birmingham life – a job, a bounteous garden and allotment, a dog, and a household with her husband H. – Fowler felt opposing pulls: to be alone and to find her people; to go off on adventures and to sink into wherever felt like home. To that end, she bought an inflatable kayak and paddled through her city’s canal system, often stumbling on unexpected pockets of wildlife (though usually what most would call weeds or pests) along the way. She also fell in love with Charlotte and started building a life around this new bond, despite guilt over leaving H. to deal with his cystic fibrosis alone.
It’s such a promising setup, and could have ended up as profound as H is for Hawk, but for several problems: the descriptions of her actual kayak outings are repetitive and rather boring; she breaks off from the narrative all too frequently to give some local history or information about a particular plant or animal species (and then, usually unconvincingly, compares herself to said species); and her prose can be plain to the point of amateurish, e.g. “I liked Ming and Sarah a lot. I liked that they liked me. I liked hanging out with women” and “I don’t think coming out brings happiness. I know it can result in a lot of sadness.” For all her talk about emotions, Fowler never really lets the reader into her psyche; remembering the moment she told her husband she was gay, she speaks of her actions in the third person.
(And how much did I hate this punning appropriation of “dyke”?! “Among the strata are basalt dykes, once blistering columns of rising magma from active volcanoes deep within the earth. Dykes are easy to spot because they cut across the norm. If everything else is horizontal, dykes are vertical. They do the opposite of the standard formation. For obvious reasons, I love dykes.”)
Ultimately more interesting in its bare bones summary than in its execution, this is still a competent combination of the year-challenge and self-transformation autobiographical subgenres. There was certainly a story here to be told. That I had to force myself to keep reading and spent much longer than I normally would over such a short book is, however, evidence of a less than fluid style. This might have been less noticeable in a long-form essay. The proofreading is also somewhat poor, which always particularly irks me in a traditionally published work.
It’s such a promising setup, and could have ended up as profound as H is for Hawk, but for several problems: the descriptions of her actual kayak outings are repetitive and rather boring; she breaks off from the narrative all too frequently to give some local history or information about a particular plant or animal species (and then, usually unconvincingly, compares herself to said species); and her prose can be plain to the point of amateurish, e.g. “I liked Ming and Sarah a lot. I liked that they liked me. I liked hanging out with women” and “I don’t think coming out brings happiness. I know it can result in a lot of sadness.” For all her talk about emotions, Fowler never really lets the reader into her psyche; remembering the moment she told her husband she was gay, she speaks of her actions in the third person.
(And how much did I hate this punning appropriation of “dyke”?! “Among the strata are basalt dykes, once blistering columns of rising magma from active volcanoes deep within the earth. Dykes are easy to spot because they cut across the norm. If everything else is horizontal, dykes are vertical. They do the opposite of the standard formation. For obvious reasons, I love dykes.”)
Ultimately more interesting in its bare bones summary than in its execution, this is still a competent combination of the year-challenge and self-transformation autobiographical subgenres. There was certainly a story here to be told. That I had to force myself to keep reading and spent much longer than I normally would over such a short book is, however, evidence of a less than fluid style. This might have been less noticeable in a long-form essay. The proofreading is also somewhat poor, which always particularly irks me in a traditionally published work.
May 24, 2017
Fowler wanted an adventure and to be alone with nature. She thought about climbing in the Andes Mountains, but then reality brought her to seek something closer to home.
Fowler bought a portable, inflatable kayak that she could put into a backpack to explore the canals of Birmingham. The author describes some of the canals that were built in the 1790s. Fowler describes the wildlife and plant life that grows along the banks and in the water. She tells of paddling through the Dudley tunnel and through the Gast Street Basin as well as the Oozell Street Loop. Fowler also describes the floating rubbish, discarded industrial equipment and even floating coconut shells. I got a big kick out of her encounter with the geese.
The book is well written and researched. This is a sort of travel memoir. The book made me want to paddle the canals and observe nature. It also made me want to clean up the garbage in and along the canals and fight to have the canals dredged. I think if they were cleaned up they would make a great recreational area for people. Fowler states that volunteers are working to re-establish some of the forgotten canals that are unusable. The author made paddling the canals sound like great fun. I understand the book was on the short list for the Wainwright Prize.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book was seven and a half hours long. Miranda Bunny Cook does an excellent job narrating the book. Cook is an actress and audiobook narrator.
Fowler bought a portable, inflatable kayak that she could put into a backpack to explore the canals of Birmingham. The author describes some of the canals that were built in the 1790s. Fowler describes the wildlife and plant life that grows along the banks and in the water. She tells of paddling through the Dudley tunnel and through the Gast Street Basin as well as the Oozell Street Loop. Fowler also describes the floating rubbish, discarded industrial equipment and even floating coconut shells. I got a big kick out of her encounter with the geese.
The book is well written and researched. This is a sort of travel memoir. The book made me want to paddle the canals and observe nature. It also made me want to clean up the garbage in and along the canals and fight to have the canals dredged. I think if they were cleaned up they would make a great recreational area for people. Fowler states that volunteers are working to re-establish some of the forgotten canals that are unusable. The author made paddling the canals sound like great fun. I understand the book was on the short list for the Wainwright Prize.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book was seven and a half hours long. Miranda Bunny Cook does an excellent job narrating the book. Cook is an actress and audiobook narrator.
April 25, 2017
Alys had always wanted to be an adventurer; someone who would climb mountains and forge rivers, sail and cycle to parts of the world that she had never been before. But life got in the way, she fell in love and married a penniless artist who sought to expand her mind and gave her a different way of looking at the world. A degree in science with an environmental element offered a perspective between the wild and the controlled. As her writing career blossomed a move to Birmingham presented itself with an opportunity to put down roots and make a garden of her own.
But after a while the call of the wild tugged at her still even deep in the city, a friends suggested sleeping under the stars or canoeing the canals. That struck a chord and a small inflatable canoe was acquired; the urban wilderness awaited her. Alys starts to explore the canals of Birmingham, discovering the beauty in the watery lines that criss-cross the city. It became an escape from her current life, a place where she could be free, so much so that her neat and tidy garden began to blur at the edges as weeds grew and slugs and snails resumed their relentless munching. These moments of solitude she came to cherish.
It was a time to rekindle old friendships too; she had known Sarah and Ming for a while and caught up with them for lunch. They bought their friend along, someone Alys knew a little, as she was a landscape designer. That moment of meeting Charlotte was to shatter her stable world and marriage for Alys had begun to fall in love with her. The moment of discovering her actual sexuality would be the toughest point of her life and separating from her husband who has cystic fibrosis would be the hardest decision to take.
Time alone in nature was what I needed most. It’s my reset button.
Fowler has written an honest, lyrical and whimsical memoir of her very personal journey. She has an incredible eye for detail seeing both the beautiful and the unsightly as she floats along the canals of Birmingham and occasionally London. The deep life changing events happening in her life means that she does get very introspective at times, analysing the tiniest details for meaning and understanding. You do feel for ‘H’ as he is left to drift, as Alys finds her new identity and way in the world. It is worthy addition to this new sub-genre of personal story tied into interaction with the natural world.
But after a while the call of the wild tugged at her still even deep in the city, a friends suggested sleeping under the stars or canoeing the canals. That struck a chord and a small inflatable canoe was acquired; the urban wilderness awaited her. Alys starts to explore the canals of Birmingham, discovering the beauty in the watery lines that criss-cross the city. It became an escape from her current life, a place where she could be free, so much so that her neat and tidy garden began to blur at the edges as weeds grew and slugs and snails resumed their relentless munching. These moments of solitude she came to cherish.
It was a time to rekindle old friendships too; she had known Sarah and Ming for a while and caught up with them for lunch. They bought their friend along, someone Alys knew a little, as she was a landscape designer. That moment of meeting Charlotte was to shatter her stable world and marriage for Alys had begun to fall in love with her. The moment of discovering her actual sexuality would be the toughest point of her life and separating from her husband who has cystic fibrosis would be the hardest decision to take.
Time alone in nature was what I needed most. It’s my reset button.
Fowler has written an honest, lyrical and whimsical memoir of her very personal journey. She has an incredible eye for detail seeing both the beautiful and the unsightly as she floats along the canals of Birmingham and occasionally London. The deep life changing events happening in her life means that she does get very introspective at times, analysing the tiniest details for meaning and understanding. You do feel for ‘H’ as he is left to drift, as Alys finds her new identity and way in the world. It is worthy addition to this new sub-genre of personal story tied into interaction with the natural world.
February 26, 2017
I absolutely adored this. Not only is it lovely because as "washed in" Brummie, it's wonderful to read an ode to this place that is just perfect. BIrmingham may have many flaws but it is also really wonderful. Always imperfectly perfect, always changing and forever adapting to its changing fortunes. And what better way to explore Birmingham than on its canals in an inflatable kayak, getting into places no one can go, seeing the gongoozlers (someone who watches what's going on on the canal) on the side and Alys becoming a water based gongoozler herself, watching the sides with interest. Alys was looking for adventure in her adopted city and she found out a lot about herself, found the love of a woman, many new beginnings. As always adventure and new beginnings bring endings too. Pain and happiness are equal emotions at times. This was a wonderful read and if you like books like Common Ground e.g. you will love this.
August 24, 2020
I really don't know what to say, I knew it would hit and it did. It reads like life itself, and I'm grateful to Alys Fowler for sharing it with me.
March 10, 2018
Liquid gold ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Rush hour, tube, Alys Fowler, Hidden Nature, oasis, fed my soul beautifully X
March 20, 2018
Alys Fowler writes beautifully about nature, particularly the minutiae of small plants, such as moss and lichens, and how they survive. Her writing is clear and precise as she gets across scientific concepts. This, however, is the strongest part of a book that strives to do a lot more. Fowler sets out to write about her journeys on the canals of Birmingham, and in doing so, to explore the end of her relationship with her husband following her realisation that she is a lesbian. It's hard to engage with the emotional side of the book, as Fowler is so circumspect in her description. She writes so narrowly about her relationships that it's hard to get an impression of how she feels or anything of the character of her partner. Because of this, the book falls flat: it feels as though Fowler is struggling to write about something that is too personal for her to want to express publicly. Her writing is caged and cramped by this. Her exploration of the canals is described in much more depth, but the industrial landscapes are very similar to one another, and the descriptions of the canals begin to feel repetitive. I felt this might have worked better as a long article about canals and the plants that grow in industrial landscapes, rather than as a whole book.
March 27, 2017
"The best maps are not published, are not accurate or even sensible, but are the maps we make ourselves about our cities, our kith and kin. These maps are made up of private details that allow us to navigate our past as much as our future terrain" - Alys Fowler
This is a book that I completely and utterly loved. On beginning it I wasn't quite sure what to expect but what I got was a book that was sumptuously lush, viscerally honest and elegantly crafted. From descriptions of minute canal side moss, to the awesome life cycle of the eel, to the author's inner and outer journeys I was kept fascinated, intrigued and at times utterly spellbound. This was a superb combination of nature writing and biography, that I was sad to finish but glad to have travelled along side the author and I very much look forward to reading more by her.
This is a book that I completely and utterly loved. On beginning it I wasn't quite sure what to expect but what I got was a book that was sumptuously lush, viscerally honest and elegantly crafted. From descriptions of minute canal side moss, to the awesome life cycle of the eel, to the author's inner and outer journeys I was kept fascinated, intrigued and at times utterly spellbound. This was a superb combination of nature writing and biography, that I was sad to finish but glad to have travelled along side the author and I very much look forward to reading more by her.
May 6, 2017
I love Alys Fowler’s garden writing, its always a delight, filled with lyricism and wonder, and I’d hoped she’d bring the same sense of joy and discovery to this book, which purports to be about adventuring by kayak through the neglected canals of her hometown of Birmingham. There is some of the former, but a great deal more is her discovery of her sexuality, about leaving her - very sick - husband for another woman and coming out as gay. This story is far and away the meat and potatoes of this tale (and it’s something that is not even mentioned in the blurb) - so it was both surprising and disappointing and I’m afraid, for the most part, I was dreadfully bored.
I get the distinct feeling that what Alys really wanted to write about was her inner, very personal, journey to find herself as a lesbian. The nature journey is just a hook to hang all of this on via the rather tenuous link of it being two journeys, one inner, one outer. The chapters dealing with her canal journeys, the observations on nature and the changing of the seasons, try hard and occasionally touch the joie de vivre of her garden writing, but mostly, I found these passages lacklustre - even prosaic and pedestrian. They’re not why she’s written this book; this is not where her heart lies - at least this is what came across to me. The rest - her coming out tale - is where all her passion is; this is the story she really wants to tell, but it really wasn't a story that held any interest or appeal for me. All of this made the start of the story decidedly dull and I skipped quite a lot. It does come together more towards the end, when the two stories meld and become one and therefore more engaging (and why I upped my initial 2 stars to 3. It is worth staying with to the end). But as a whole - I have to say, I really wasn't very engaged or even interested; I can barely remember any details of the book at all, now I’ve finished it. The only thing that has really stayed with me is how terribly sorry I was for her poor husband, which is not, I suspect, what the author intended. Amazon currently has this book classified under sports, hobbies, active pursuits, when really it should be under gay and lesbian, where it will hopefully catch a more engaged audience.
I get the distinct feeling that what Alys really wanted to write about was her inner, very personal, journey to find herself as a lesbian. The nature journey is just a hook to hang all of this on via the rather tenuous link of it being two journeys, one inner, one outer. The chapters dealing with her canal journeys, the observations on nature and the changing of the seasons, try hard and occasionally touch the joie de vivre of her garden writing, but mostly, I found these passages lacklustre - even prosaic and pedestrian. They’re not why she’s written this book; this is not where her heart lies - at least this is what came across to me. The rest - her coming out tale - is where all her passion is; this is the story she really wants to tell, but it really wasn't a story that held any interest or appeal for me. All of this made the start of the story decidedly dull and I skipped quite a lot. It does come together more towards the end, when the two stories meld and become one and therefore more engaging (and why I upped my initial 2 stars to 3. It is worth staying with to the end). But as a whole - I have to say, I really wasn't very engaged or even interested; I can barely remember any details of the book at all, now I’ve finished it. The only thing that has really stayed with me is how terribly sorry I was for her poor husband, which is not, I suspect, what the author intended. Amazon currently has this book classified under sports, hobbies, active pursuits, when really it should be under gay and lesbian, where it will hopefully catch a more engaged audience.
September 14, 2020
A very interesting mix of nature journal/outdoor adventure/personal memoir.
The writing here is heartfelt and honest, with Alys's discussion of coming out and ending her marriage as raw and candid as it gets.
Alys manages to make us fall in love with the often disused waterways of modern Birmingham, and their flora and fauna that make these watery passageways their home.
Captivating, enchanting, and enthralling writing.
The writing here is heartfelt and honest, with Alys's discussion of coming out and ending her marriage as raw and candid as it gets.
Alys manages to make us fall in love with the often disused waterways of modern Birmingham, and their flora and fauna that make these watery passageways their home.
Captivating, enchanting, and enthralling writing.
September 20, 2020
no sé si voy a poder superarlo, la verdad
September 7, 2024
An interesting book,a good insight to relationships, change, plus informative,makes you stop and think
March 30, 2018
As of yet still unsure what to make of this; some beautiful passages, but honestly this is a book of two total disjointed stories, Fowler is trying to run the two alongside each other to form one collective narrative, when really the only thing linking the nature and sexuality aspects is that she happened to have a hobby at the same time she realised she was gay. To be honest, there is little indication she realises she is gay, as she literally doesn't mention it until she says she tells her husband. It's not so much that the solitude of the canals helps her discover herself, as the blurb makes out, more that she meets someone she fancies who's female. I feel uncomfortable with her lamenting her husband's illness too... in one of the final passages she states that she has been living with cystic fibrosis for 14 years. No, you haven't, your husband has and it's a death sentence. As someone who is a gay woman and has a lot of familial experience with chronic disease, I found Fowler's portrayal of both to reek of immaturity, which is a shame, as the writing about nature was sublime. I think what lets this book down is the attempted enmeshing of a subject she knows a great deal about, with a subject she still hasn't worked out - herself.
March 1, 2022
The nature writing was lovely at times, interesting information about canals, but I think I had hoped for a bit more about the internal struggle and detail about the realisation of true sexuality. This was all very brief and very surface level. Whilst I can appreciate the desire to keep things private, a book about coming out could have been more useful to other questioning people if it was a bit more open.
December 27, 2023
This wasn’t a bad book as such, the premise of urban exploration via canals in a paddle boat was interesting, the personal story at the heart of the book was emotionally engaging and there was a lot of information about nature that was interesting and well presented.
The issue was with quite a lot of repetition, the author’s messy garden was a metaphor for her mental state multiple times, as was her messy house, overgrown canals, anything untidy she came across on her journey. Once we get to the point early on where her reason for her state of anxiety and restlessness is revealed, the rest of the book moves in repetitive circles of her feeling a little better, but she’s still a mess, but she’s a little better, but she’s still a mess.
It felt very honest, I’m sure it’s a very true recounting of her experience and I hope it was cathartic writing it, but it makes for a poorly structured book.
The issue was with quite a lot of repetition, the author’s messy garden was a metaphor for her mental state multiple times, as was her messy house, overgrown canals, anything untidy she came across on her journey. Once we get to the point early on where her reason for her state of anxiety and restlessness is revealed, the rest of the book moves in repetitive circles of her feeling a little better, but she’s still a mess, but she’s a little better, but she’s still a mess.
It felt very honest, I’m sure it’s a very true recounting of her experience and I hope it was cathartic writing it, but it makes for a poorly structured book.
September 7, 2020
I've been exploring the radial waterways of Birmingham over the last 3-4 years by foot and was quite familiar with the landscape Alys navigates. Small factual variations (deviations?) made me raise my eyebrows a little and reminded me that this is a memoir rather than waterways report, but her description of the uplifting power of the 'edge' is echoed resoundingly by my personal experience and smoothed over the wrinkles.
The only thing that moves the rating a touch lower is the breathy tone of her writing, particularly in the second half (post-H), which a lot of 'self-discovery' memoirs adopt.
The only thing that moves the rating a touch lower is the breathy tone of her writing, particularly in the second half (post-H), which a lot of 'self-discovery' memoirs adopt.
February 27, 2024
I think I value the idea over the execution in this autobiography/memoir of a year in the life of the author. A gardener leaves her love of plants at home to explore various canals around her in a small inflatable kayak with her foldable bike? Score! Self-discovery and navigating difficult transitions in life? Score! I don’t even mind that the finds along the canal were sometimes less than idyllic, more industrial…but the story lacked a certain beauty to its connecting ideas, flow, and narration in general. I did, however, learn a thing or two about eel anuses, so there was that! Score!
June 5, 2024
CAWPILE 5.71
3 STARS
Read as my non-fiction pick for June 2024.
Thought this was an appropriate pick for Pride month as this beautifully written memoir details Alys' emotional journey as she comes out as a gay woman as a married adult. The sections about kayaking Birmingham's canal network and all the sights and sounds were poetic and beautiful but the real story is Alys' fraught personal journey.
Moving at times, peaceful at times, wonderous at times- this book was a short but impactful read.
3 STARS
Read as my non-fiction pick for June 2024.
Thought this was an appropriate pick for Pride month as this beautifully written memoir details Alys' emotional journey as she comes out as a gay woman as a married adult. The sections about kayaking Birmingham's canal network and all the sights and sounds were poetic and beautiful but the real story is Alys' fraught personal journey.
Moving at times, peaceful at times, wonderous at times- this book was a short but impactful read.
dnf
July 15, 2018look, I'm DNFing this one right here. I have been reading it for so long, and nothing about it really made me care. I hate to criticise someone's memoir, but this was not great. Just, the whole travelling around canals was kind of dull. The writing wasn't beautiful, but the thing that made me really really angry was the chapter that I just read. It was very insensitive and I do not want to read on in a book that I wasn't interested in anyway and that I now have no desire to pick up again.
December 22, 2021
An autobiography of Alys exploring the canals of Birmingham in a canoe and a series of life changing events.
I did enjoy some aspects, the cover was nice, the descriptions of certain flora/fauna and initial rides in the canoe was nice. But sadly it became a bit repetitive and language used at time felt a wee bit basic, resulting in a lack of investment.
I did enjoy some aspects, the cover was nice, the descriptions of certain flora/fauna and initial rides in the canoe was nice. But sadly it became a bit repetitive and language used at time felt a wee bit basic, resulting in a lack of investment.
April 25, 2017
An interesting mix of memoir, travel and nature writing which gently carries the reader along not just Birmingham's canals but the authors' mind on her journey of self discovery and change.
Read
August 4, 2018Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize 2018.
My Video Review: https://youtu.be/KAzJ3EMopmo
My Video Review: https://youtu.be/KAzJ3EMopmo
March 26, 2024
Not a lot to say… unhygienic canal , blah blah blah, dead animal fascination..blah blah blah, meltdown…blah blah blah…the end!
August 28, 2024
I got fed up a third of the way thru and gave up on this book.
September 20, 2025
(3.25) actually makes birmingham sound nice and that’s hard to do
August 15, 2018
This is quite possibly my favourite non-fiction book that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Alys Fowler is a wonderful woman and I felt as if I resided inside the tangle of her ginger hair, peering into her thoughts all the way through this book.
I am a nature lover and a gardener and have read her newspaper columns for years and class her 'Thrifty Forager/Gardener' books as gardening bibles. However, in this auto-biographical text it was her self reflective paragraphs that I held onto most. I am a gay woman myself and to read her coming out story was heart wrenching! I remember finding out about her sexuality a couple of years ago and being over the moon and this book was on my wishlist for months.
My favourite quote from the book is:
"I garden because I am. I belong to the garden rather than the other way round. I pour myself, sometimes quite physically, into nature because it is how I make sense of myself and my place in the world."
Stunning and a must read.
I am a nature lover and a gardener and have read her newspaper columns for years and class her 'Thrifty Forager/Gardener' books as gardening bibles. However, in this auto-biographical text it was her self reflective paragraphs that I held onto most. I am a gay woman myself and to read her coming out story was heart wrenching! I remember finding out about her sexuality a couple of years ago and being over the moon and this book was on my wishlist for months.
My favourite quote from the book is:
"I garden because I am. I belong to the garden rather than the other way round. I pour myself, sometimes quite physically, into nature because it is how I make sense of myself and my place in the world."
Stunning and a must read.
February 26, 2020
A beautifully written piece of creative non-fiction. It's important to take into consideration when approaching this book for the first time that it is not LGBT or non-fiction, Alys Fowler did not intend to write an autobiographical book or to focus the book on her coming out story. Fowler has done what she does best, she has written about nature and has used the natural world to represent her feelings about coming out at 37 years of age. Like any other freelance writer, she wanted to get published and paid and already had a publisher for her gardening books. Her coming out story is in the background but does drive the novel forward, Fowler finds herself while paddling in an inflatable dinghy along Birmingham's canal network.
I love some of the words Fowler uses, such as 'gongoozler' which is bargees slang (p23) and she frequently uses the beautiful word 'pearlescent'. I learnt a lot about Birmingham from reading this, as a Brummie it felt refreshing to be given such microscopic information about places I've been to but not given much thought about. For example, Fowler writes 'Titford Reservoir, another natural pool widened in the late eighteenth century, feeds into Edgbaston Reservoir, as do several other side streams and small pools. The Industrial Revolution tamed Birmingham's streams, pools and springs and fed them ruthlessly into the canals' (p25). And I had no idea blackberries came from the rose family: 'Blackberries come from the rose family' (115) or that 'Kazakhstan' was 'the birthplace of the apple' (140). Moreover, I love the section on eels on page 170 and the same with pigeons on page 182.
For me, Fowler described in microscopic detail the fine things in life we take for granted, the quotidian occurrences, objects and life. The things that are in front of us but we never see. She illuminated Birmingham's vibrant history, the positives of its canal network and how it has been greatly neglected. Furthermore, Fowler may have not explicitly set out to do this and it is another background story: she conveyed Birmingham's LGBT community in a positive light through the strength and compassion shown from her friends Ming and Sarah who accepted her, even though she was not sure whether she was a lesbian or bisexual and had been in a heterosexual relationship for so many years. I greatly enjoyed reading this book, almost read it in one sitting and the only criticism I give is that pictures of her boat, places she'd visited and a map would have been nice. And at times it seems unbelievable that she was able to fit so much into a small inflatable dinghy: her bike, herself, another human and this is where pictures of her boat would have been relevant. Otherwise, I recommend this book to all nature lovers and even people who simply wish to know more about Birmingham.
I love some of the words Fowler uses, such as 'gongoozler' which is bargees slang (p23) and she frequently uses the beautiful word 'pearlescent'. I learnt a lot about Birmingham from reading this, as a Brummie it felt refreshing to be given such microscopic information about places I've been to but not given much thought about. For example, Fowler writes 'Titford Reservoir, another natural pool widened in the late eighteenth century, feeds into Edgbaston Reservoir, as do several other side streams and small pools. The Industrial Revolution tamed Birmingham's streams, pools and springs and fed them ruthlessly into the canals' (p25). And I had no idea blackberries came from the rose family: 'Blackberries come from the rose family' (115) or that 'Kazakhstan' was 'the birthplace of the apple' (140). Moreover, I love the section on eels on page 170 and the same with pigeons on page 182.
For me, Fowler described in microscopic detail the fine things in life we take for granted, the quotidian occurrences, objects and life. The things that are in front of us but we never see. She illuminated Birmingham's vibrant history, the positives of its canal network and how it has been greatly neglected. Furthermore, Fowler may have not explicitly set out to do this and it is another background story: she conveyed Birmingham's LGBT community in a positive light through the strength and compassion shown from her friends Ming and Sarah who accepted her, even though she was not sure whether she was a lesbian or bisexual and had been in a heterosexual relationship for so many years. I greatly enjoyed reading this book, almost read it in one sitting and the only criticism I give is that pictures of her boat, places she'd visited and a map would have been nice. And at times it seems unbelievable that she was able to fit so much into a small inflatable dinghy: her bike, herself, another human and this is where pictures of her boat would have been relevant. Otherwise, I recommend this book to all nature lovers and even people who simply wish to know more about Birmingham.
May 6, 2025
This is NOT a book about nature or finding beauty in urban exploration. This woman starts kayaking the canals of Birmingham and is so caught up in her rediscovery of self that she decides to have an extramarital affair. Somehow this is supposed to be okay because she is having an affair with a woman? I was initially unimpressed with the author for her lack of research into boat safety laws and distinct lack of athleticism (a canoe is not hard to lift on the balance point!). I decided to be simply amused at her misadventures and idiocy, but then the book revealed its true subject, which is struggling with sexuality.
I cannot get a sense of any of Alys’s relationships to know, but I would think she’d be bisexual, not lesbian. Anyhow she self-describes as a lesbian and then has sorts of strange comments. Like what do haircuts and pronouns have to do with being a lesbian? You want to have sex with women, not get a haircut. The rest of the book that I read is hand-wringing over the fact that she cheated on her husband who has a chronic illness and trying to feel okay about it because she is lesbian so that makes it okay 😑
I decided I couldn’t stand her self pity and harassment of animals enough to entertain reading purely for the plant facts. Complete waste of time and money on a book that isn’t up front about what it really is. If you wanted to write a coming out story, do it! But don’t trick people into thinking that they’re getting a book on urban exploration.
I cannot get a sense of any of Alys’s relationships to know, but I would think she’d be bisexual, not lesbian. Anyhow she self-describes as a lesbian and then has sorts of strange comments. Like what do haircuts and pronouns have to do with being a lesbian? You want to have sex with women, not get a haircut. The rest of the book that I read is hand-wringing over the fact that she cheated on her husband who has a chronic illness and trying to feel okay about it because she is lesbian so that makes it okay 😑
I decided I couldn’t stand her self pity and harassment of animals enough to entertain reading purely for the plant facts. Complete waste of time and money on a book that isn’t up front about what it really is. If you wanted to write a coming out story, do it! But don’t trick people into thinking that they’re getting a book on urban exploration.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2018
I found this book an absolute delight. 2 memoirs in a row but so different. This is a voyage of discovery, possibly more of a personal nature than of nature.
The writing is poetic, her thoughts intriguing as she looks at herself in both a detached & intimate way.
I sometimes get extremely frustrated with myself for not being more adventurous in my exploration of the world & clearly Fowler (like O'Farrell in the previous memoir I read) has travelled widely. However the idea of discovering beauty in the busiest of cities & finding paradise around a corner is very reassuring. She describes grass blowing in the wind as if it is magical & it is.
She is making difficult decisions about her life & her sexuality & then describes the sex life of mosses. Intrinsically linked of course & maybe not that spectacular a revelation but so engaging & relevant. Of course the Hidden Nature of the title can be about the beauty of Birminghams canals, a discovery of sexuality or the ways in which plants reproduce but it is more about being present in the world, not taking ourselves too seriously (although acknowledging that decisions we make can be life changing) & being able to marvel at the beauty of grass blowing in the wind. Lovely.
The writing is poetic, her thoughts intriguing as she looks at herself in both a detached & intimate way.
I sometimes get extremely frustrated with myself for not being more adventurous in my exploration of the world & clearly Fowler (like O'Farrell in the previous memoir I read) has travelled widely. However the idea of discovering beauty in the busiest of cities & finding paradise around a corner is very reassuring. She describes grass blowing in the wind as if it is magical & it is.
She is making difficult decisions about her life & her sexuality & then describes the sex life of mosses. Intrinsically linked of course & maybe not that spectacular a revelation but so engaging & relevant. Of course the Hidden Nature of the title can be about the beauty of Birminghams canals, a discovery of sexuality or the ways in which plants reproduce but it is more about being present in the world, not taking ourselves too seriously (although acknowledging that decisions we make can be life changing) & being able to marvel at the beauty of grass blowing in the wind. Lovely.
June 27, 2018
A pedestrian, rather splinter of ice in heart coldness characterises this "nature" writing. Her lack of empathy for animals was probably part of that coldness. Her account felt self-absorbed to the point I felt bored by her coming out story, which I was not expecting to, but did. It also felt that she was "othering" her husband as a disabled man. She did not even include him in her acknowledgements, and the marriage ended purely because of her change in sexuality, or so she constructs the story. There were some class issues betrayed as well in how she wrote about the other people in the canal. I did learn a few things I didn't know about "nature" and some other things, but in a way that felt like a lecture. I was expecting to enjoy this book but just didn't. I had been put onto it after seeing it on the Wainwright Prize long list, along with Tom Cox's 20th Century Yokel. Cox to be honest has a humanity, compassion and joie de vivre in his writing which Fowler just did not. Very disappointing all in all.
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