Witness Books lands debut from ‘leading light' of British nature movement Fiennes

Witness Books has secured Land Healer: How Farming Can Save Britain’s Countryside, the debut from Jake Fiennes. 

Albert DePetrillo, publishing director at Ebury, bought world rights from David Godwin at David Godwin Associates. Land Healer will be published in June 2022.  

Fiennes’ “radical habitat restoration and agricultural work” on the Holkham Estate as conservation manager has nurtured its species and increased crop yields, bringing life back to more than 25,000 acres of land.

Land Healer develops Fiennes’ work on the estate, articulating his ambition to bring back our flora and fauna by combining tradition with new experiments. The publisher described the book as a “unique combination of nature writing and environmental manifesto, of passion and policy, it’s a rallying cry for rethinking our relationship with the natural world before it’s too late”.  

DePetrillo commented: “Jake was one of the first people we sought out for Witness Books when we started the imprint at Ebury in 2020, and I’m thrilled we’ll be publishing his first book. He is a visionary and a genuine force of nature (pun intended), and Land Healer will be an inspiration to a new generation of naturalists and conservationists, here and around the world.”  

Fiennes added: “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to readdress the balance, where our agricultural food systems can make space for nature. I’ve witnessed the demise of our natural environment and I’ve repeatedly brought nature back; it really is possible!”