Books

Losing Eden | Penguin

Losing Eden was published by Allen Lane / Penguin Press in March 2020. The paperback is published February 27 2021. It's about the relationship between the natural world and the human psyche; a wide-ranging inquiry into the mechanism by which contact with 'nature' is therapeutic. It is long-listed for the Wainwright Prize and received a Society of Authors' award. The Times and Telegraph named it a book of the year (2020) and the paperback became a Times' bestseller (2021). It is published in German, Spanish, Italian and will soon be out in the United States and Estonia.

If you'd like to order it, click here for options.

Reviews for Losing Eden:

  • Wonderfully intoxicating.. In meticulous detail, Jones quests to bring us an impressive array of answers to the question of whether “nature connection” has a tangible effect on our minds, and how, and why?
    -     Irish Times
  • Beautifully written, research-heavy study about how nature offers us wellbeing… Jones unpicks the science in accessible, moving writing
    - Observer, Book of the Day
  • A passionate and thorough exploration of the growing scientific evidence showing why humans require other species to stay well - Guardian 
  • Earnest, painstakingly-researched...A heartfelt love-letter to the outdoors
    -     Daily Mail
  • Passionately written… lovely, descriptive writing style - The Times
  • Galvanising - The Independent
  • Her fascinating exploration of the new science of our connection to the natural world emphasises the untold psychological cost of environmental degradation and climate catastrophe. It is written in such lush, vivid prose that reading it – especially while marooned in a big city under lockdown – one can feel transported and restored - New Statesman
  •  A sympathetic interviewer and scrupulous journalist…a thorough, well-balanced report - The Spectator
  • Fascinating ... the connection between mental health and the natural world turns out to be strong and deep - which is good news in that it offers those feeling soul-sick the possibility that falling in love with the world around them might be remarkably helpful. And those who fall in love with the world might protect it, a virtuous cycle that would make a real difference in the fight for a workable planet - Bill McKibben, author of Falter; Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
  • Beautifully written, movingly told and meticulously researched, Losing Eden is an elegy to the healing power of nature, something we need more than ever in our anxiety-ridden world of ecological loss. Woven together with her own personal story of recovery, Lucy Jones lays out the overwhelming scientific evidence for nature as nurturer for body and soul with the clarity and candour that will move hearts and minds - a convincing plea for a wilder, richer world - Isabella Tree, author of Wilding
  • By the time I'd read the first chapter, I'd resolved to take my son into the woods every afternoon over winter. By the time I'd read the sixth, I was wanting to break prisoners out of cells and onto the mossy moors. Losing Eden rigorously and convincingly tells of the value of the natural universe to our human hearts. It's a simple message but Lucy Jones looks at it by using so many interesting and diverse ideas and places that it always stays vital. It is exciting, pertinent and elegantly written: I recommend it to anyone who makes decisions - Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun

 

The Nature Seed | Profile Books

The Nature Seed is a practical and philosophical guide for anyone with children in their lives. Full of the wonders of sharing the natural world with young minds, it's a manual for finding awe in the cracks of the pavement and magic on a stroll around the block. Creative, easy and free child-led activities to deepen the connection with the living world, from wild art to simple fires, potions, foraging and make-believe.

If you'd like to order it, click here for options.

Reviews for The Nature Seed:

  • A practical, no-nonsense guide to getting children back to nature ... Brilliant - Stephen Moss

  • A valuable practical guide to helping children form a kinship with nature
    - Independent

 

Foxes Unearthed | Elliott & Thompson

Foxes Unearthed: A Story of Love and Loathing in Modern Britain was published by Elliott & Thompson in 2016.

If you'd like to order it, click here for options.

Reviews of Foxes Unearthed:

  • Jones's history of our complex relationship with the fox is revealing... to discover there was an 18th-century sport of 'fox tossing' almost makes this worth the purchase alone - John Lewis-Stempel, The Times Books of the Year 2016

  • Jones writes with real feeling about the hold of foxes on the human imagination, and her own deep affection for the beguiling creatures - Daily Mail

  • The fox has for centuries been held as the incarnation of such unlovely traits as deviousness, cunning and cruelty. ... However, the characteristic that emerges most strongly from the nature writer Lucy Jones's book about Vulpes vulpes is its ambiguity. ... [An] intriguing compendium of fox lore - Michael Prodger, The Times

  • A fantastic tour of the fox and us - Lucy Jones takes an intelligent, measured and humane look at the intimate, contradictory and occasionally crazy relationship between Homo sapiens and Vulpes vulpes - Patrick Barkham, author of Badgerlands and The Butterfly Isles

  • A foxy little book, offering a rich brew of nature and history and culture. An exemplary instance of fine research leading to balance and sanity on a subject usually lacking in either. Deeply enjoyable and informative - Sara Maitland, author of Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales

  • Fascinating ... [a] well-balanced exploration of our tempestuous relationship - Country Life

  • Beautifully written and signals a conspicuous new talent ... She traces the place of the fox in our culture over many centuries - Daily Telegraph

  • A fascinating discussion of the history of our attitude to the fox ... it will almost certainly teach you something new - The Spectator