This is the story of the relationships between the author and a team of conservation volunteers. It is a tender account of those relationships and has some very, very well-written and moving passages. I liked it a lot. However, although these are conservation volunteers, nature is the backdrop to this book rather than a leading character. That’s not a fault, in fact it means that the book will interest a much wider group of readers than just the nature nerds.
But the backdrop is scrub bashing, building an erosion barrier, installing gates and Water Vole surveys and observations of nature are sprinkled through the book. Nature nerd readers will feel comfortable with the setting in which these relationships with a diverse group of characters are played. The author has her own baggage that she brings to this new job and all her volunteers have their own emotional baggage too. I definitely was rooting for the author from fairly early in the book and was interested throughout to see how things unfolded.
The cover? Rather nice. I’d give it 7/10.
The Volunteers: a memoir of conservation, companionship and community by Carol Donaldson is published by Summerdale.
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Buy direct from Blackwell’s – a proper bookshop (and I’ll get a little bit of money from them)
