My Family and Other Seedlings

<p><b>''A tender but substantive family memoir'' <i>Sunday Independent</i></b><br><br><b>''An acute eye and a lightness of touch ensures that this is never anything other than truly engrossing'' <i>The Field</i></b><br><br>A few years ago Lally Snow moved to a Dorset village with her husband and three small children, having spent over a decade as a war photographer, foreign correspondent and film maker living in Kabul. She covered the conflict there as well as other wars from Gaza to Eastern Ukraine, and Iraq.<br><br>In the late winter of 2021-22, Lally decided to rent an allotment, despite having only a rudimentary knowledge of gardening. She was starting from scratch and setting herself the dual challenge of growing an allotment at the same time as growing a family.<br><br>This is a heart-warming, wry and at times tearful account of Lally''s travails as a mother and novice allotment holder, counterpointing horticultural progress with the perils of parenting. Along the way she reflects on the drudgery of English rural domesticity after a professional life chasing war and adventure, the history of the allotment since Saxon times, and the wonderful moment when gardening becomes fun rather than just feeding a family.</p>