Gaia lands Sidhu’s ‘tender and beautiful’ memoir about finding connection in the Welsh valleys 

Octopus Publishing Group’s nature imprint Gaia has acquired I Can Hear the Cuckoo: Life in the Wilds of Wales by award-winning journalist Kiran Sidhu – described as “a tender, reflective memoir about her journey to the Welsh valleys, and how she heals a fractured past through the community she finds there”.

Commissioning editor Nicky Crane acquired world rights including audio from David Godwin at David Godwin Associates, for publication on 27th April 2023.

The synopsis reads: “Kiran’s mother was the keystone of her family, so when she dies everything falls apart. Kiran escapes to Caer Cadwgan in Wales – to allow herself to grieve away from turbulent city life in London, to leave her toxic family behind, and to find solace in the purity of the natural world.

“Not long after arrival, she openly wonders, ‘What’s a brown city girl like me doing in the Welsh countryside?’, but she quickly discovers a sense of belonging in the close-knit community she finds there; her neighbour Sarah, who teaches her how to sledge when the winter snow arrives; Jane, a 70-year-old woman who lives at the top of a mountain with three dogs and four alpacas with an inspiring attitude to life; and Wilf, the farmer who eats the same supper every day and tells Kiran that the cuckoo arrives in April and leaves in July.

“I Can Hear the Cuckoo is an introspective book about grief, family, nature, people and new beginnings, about finding small reasons to go on in the darkest of days and discovering friendship and connection in the most unexpected of places.”

Sidhu’s profile about Wilf the farmer was the Guardian’s 13th most read and shared article in 2021, with more than 1.88 million views according to Gaia. A follow-up piece about their friendship also went viral.

Director Christian Cargill subsequently made a short film based on Wilf, supported by Pulse Films, called “Heart Valley”. The film was written and co-produced by Kiran and went on to win Best Short Documentary Film at Tribeca Film Festival in New York, beating 7,000 submissions, and premiered on BBC Wales earlier this year.

Commissioning editor Nicky Crane said of the acquisition: “Kiran has delivered her manuscript and it’s so tender and beautiful. Intense and dark in places, and hopeful and deeply moving in others, this is an incredible story of how we can heal from grief, and what nature and a small community in the Welsh Valleys can teach us about life. If you enjoyed Kiran’s Guardian articles, or wonderful nature writing in general, you will absolutely adore this."

Sidhu commented: “Writing a memoir was always going to be a highly emotional experience, but I have felt safe and supported by Nicky and her team. This book is deeply reflective and philosophical, and the team at Gaia totally understood the core of my writing. With the success of the articles I wrote about moving to the country and the response from readers, writing a book felt like an obvious development. I hope my story will resonate with many."