For a book written through 2020 feeling the anger of everything that happened that year, Claire manages to write a beautiful and bitter memoir of struggling to discover where she belongs on the land. 

Another reviewer mentioned a lack of levity in the book, and she’s correct, and it makes for a heavy read. However, a book born of anger, sadness and disappointment is going to be heavy. Reliving 2020 through her eyes is heavy. Reading the history of the colonisation of Mauritius is heavy. I’d find myself reading a chapter or two and then having to have a short break to digest what I’d read before diving back in. That being said it only took me 4 days to read (between my own gardening forays and puppy training!). 

Personally I think Claire got the balance of memoir, racial politics and history of her ancestral home just right. I would urge this to be read if you’re still on your anti-racist journey (I wonder how many people started in 2020 and stalled - I know I haven’t read anything for a while), or if you’re interested in learning how people become gardeners, especially POC.