Whilst restoring the renowned gardens of her new home, Olivia Laing has written a book about the pleasure to be found in gardening and gardens. Gardens and gardening are not only a pastime but also a refuge to find solace from painful past lives with restorative effects. She starts her journey with paradise – walled garden in Persian – and then relates that to Milton’s Paradise Lost and its religious context. Her “literature in gardening” odyssey continues with references to John Clare who due to his love of nature, British wildlife and flowers was inspired to write the most beautiful and memorable poems. Laing further develops the theme with reflections on the quintessentially sweeping landscape gardens in the tradition of those designed by Capability Brown but exposes their dark history and how these were funded with blood money from the slave trade. Another theme Laing explores is the political, socioeconomic, and historical aspects of gardening and how it was important in creating ideas of radical utopias and a more equal society. There are also satisfying descriptions of gardeners who broke the mould like Derek Jarman’s incredible garden in the middle of a shingle beach and William Morris’s beautiful groundbreaking designs which brought the garden into our homes and living rooms. With every subject related to gardens, gardening and plants Laing creates a beautiful long border tapestry full of ideas giving us the sense of how we can create our own little Eden on this earth. As always, Laing’s writing is informative, engaging, thought provoking and extremely enjoyable. It doesn’t matter whether you are a gardener or not, just enjoy it.

As someone who didn’t know much about gardens but is totally down to learn, this was such an enjoyable read. This book follows Olivia Laing as she works to restore her garden to its former glory whilst also making it her own. Throughout the book Laing refers to notable gardens, discussing how they came to be, what inspired them and the social impact they had. I feel like this is such a great book for everyone but especially those who don’t garden themselves and therefore don’t often think about what a garden really is. It’s really changed the way I think about gardens and how much they actually impact us. I think most of us would enjoy a day relaxing in a beautiful garden, but how often do we think about why gardens tend to look the way they do. Laing discusses this thoughtfully in her book, whether a garden has been designed in a perfectly manicured way or whether it has been designed to emulate a wilderness and what kind of message it portrays. Gardens are often seen as this personal eden, a tucked away hole that you can escape into when life gets too hard, Laing highlights the luxury it actually is to have your own garden and the amount of people who don't/may never have their own garden. There’s the resounding theme throughout the book about the purpose of gardens and their ownership. Should land be owned, and just because a garden has been made "beautiful" should we just accept that it is pretty whilst ignoring the years of slave labour that built it. Laing has so brilliantly interwoven multiple themes regarding gardens so you really get a feel for all aspects of what gardens actually are. One thing I definitely enjoyed throughout this book was the incredible imagery Laing was able to get across whilst she described her time in her garden. The early mornings with the sun rising on the horizon, she is surrounded by birds and plants and all these other creatures, she paints such a beautiful scene of pure tranquility. She makes you long for this kind of peace for yourself and she has made me wish for a garden of my own. I cannot recommend this book enough, the journey it took me on was one I will never forget. I’m so glad I picked this up!

‘The Garden Against Time’ is a compelling exploration of the significance of gardens and yet another stunning example of Olivia Laing’s impeccable skills as a thinker and writer. Effortlessly interweaving personal accounts, historical anecdotes and philosophical analysis, the author covers many, sometimes surprising, aspects of gardens in order to fully honour their ambiguity and variety. From the historically troubling custom of enclosures or inscriptions of class and status in vast meticulously cultivated estates to current connections to climate change, Olivia Laing’s work spans different times and continents, but never fails to find common ground in the personal struggles, where a garden becomes a refuge (sometimes quite literally during times of war) and a possibility for collaboration or contemplation. Throughout the book, the author turns to famous artists such as John Milton or Derek Jarman as well as lesser-known figures for their particular experiences and views, while her personal project of reviving a newly acquired garden takes centre stage. The descriptions of her garden are nothing short of magical: the arrangement of plants, flowers and trees; their distinct interactions with nature, be it bees, birds, insects, the weather, the sun and moon or the sky and its stars; the garden’s relationship with its caretakers and visitors. The greenery practically lifts off the page, where every sentence is brimming with the author’s love and fascination. As riveting as it is thought-provoking and an absolute joy to read, ‘The Garden Against Time’ requires no green thumb, but you might be tempted to start your own patch of paradise once you’ve finished the book.

Olivia Laing seems incapable of boring me, no matter how ignorant I feel on the topics she chooses. I’m not a gardening person, I didn’t recognise a single plant in here and I knew maybe 20% of her art or literary and historical references. But she’s just so good at telling a story and if you have any interest in culture, politics or memoir, she’s going to find a way to hook you in to her latest passion until you care too. Well-practised gardeners will also certainly find something brilliant in following Laing step by step though her own garden as the love she has poured into it shines through every description

Olivia Laing takes us on the journey through the life of the garden she takes ownership of during lockdown. Through the history of the garden's past and her own history, she attempts to plot a future with the garden at its heart. As she explores what the garden means to her, she draws on other gardens and gardeners to act as way markers and as lessons in both what to do and what not to do. She looks at the dark history under some of the most elegant gardens and at the way gardens, both real and imagined have shaped our responses to nature and to life itself. This is elegant, beautiful and clever. It's romantic and thoughtful and smart. I loved it.