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Two Roads has won a five-way auction for All My Wild Mothers: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss and an Apothecary Garden by Victoria Bennett, author and founder of Wild Women Press.
The publisher bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Jenny Hewson at The Lutyens & Rubinstein Literary Agency in a five-way auction for publication in February 2023.
Its synopsis reads: “On 19th October 2007, at seven months pregnant, Victoria Bennett was looking forward to new motherhood and the promise of the future. The telephone rang, and the news she received changed everything. Aged just 47, her eldest sister had died in a canoeing accident.
“Five years later, undone by grief, austerity measures and the responsibility of being a full-time carer for her medically vulnerable son, Victoria and her family need to find a secure place to rebuild their lives. Moving to a new social housing estate in rural Cumbria, at first it seems the most infertile grounds to plant a new life.
“With no money and only the weeds they can find for free, Victoria and her young son set about transforming the rubble around them into a wild, apothecary garden. Stone by stone, and seed by seed, they discover that sometimes life grows, not in spite of what is broken, but because of it. An intimate weaving of memoir and herbal folklore, All My Wild Mothers is a story of rewilding our wastelands, and the transformation that happens when we do.”
Bennett won the 2020 Northern Debut Award and was longlisted for both the 2020 Nan Shepherd Prize and Penguin’s 2020 #WriteNow programme. In writing this book she was supported by the Northern Debut Award from New Writing North and given a grant from the Society of Authors.
Two Roads publishing director Kate Hewson said: “When All My Wild Mothers came into Two Roads, our reaction was instantaneous and unanimous. Victoria’s story, and the way she weaves it out of strands of time and place into a wild and magical whole is completely unique, but at the same time her subjects — grief, love, resilience, hope — are universal. It’s a deeply moving and impactful memoir, and we’re extremely proud to be publishing it."
Bennett said: "All My Wild Mothers has been grown over the past 10 years, rooted in the landscape of loss, motherhood, and the complex demands of caregiving. I could never have imagined that one day, it would be published alongside some of our best loved, and treasured champions of the natural world. It is an honour to join the Two Roads family, and to be part of their commitment to publishing stories that inspire us to nurture what connects and sustains, rather than what divides."
Agent Jenny Hewson added: "This is such a special and resonant story, the kind you can’t wait to press into other people’s hands. At the heart of All My Wild Mothers is the idea of connecting with nature, wherever you are, and with whatever resources you have to hand; an important reminder that what we need is under our very feet and can help to heal us even at our lowest, most besieged moments. I fell in love from the very first page and I know others will too."