To Have or To Hold: Nature's Hidden Relationships

by Sophie Pavelle

Overview

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING

A thrilling exploration of nature's symbiotic relationships by the award-winning author of Forget Me Not.

What can nature teach us about living together? Investigating eight symbiotic relationships trying to survive the climate and biodiversity crises, Sophie Pavelle explains why it has never been more vital for us to understand symbiosis. Symbiotic relationships regulate ecosystems, strengthen resilience and bind pivotal connections, and nature thrives on relationships as glamorous as they are grotesque and as bizarre as they are engrossing.

Symbiotic relationships don't happen accidentally – these dynamics evolved – and species form and sever alliances everywhere, from deep within temperate rainforests to the open ocean, quiet tidal pools or chalk grasslands.

In To Have or To Hold, Sophie low-carbon travels in the British Isles relishing the interconnectedness between species, celebrating the relationships underpinning natural environments and sharing some of nature's frauds, fortune-tellers, misfits and cheaters.

The natural world is built on parasitism, a cunning blend of bargaining and exploitation in the name of survival. In our relationship with the natural world, are we the parasites? Will we continue to exploit nature's resources? Or will we vow to love and cherish what remains – shaping a more restorative life alongside nature – till death us do part?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399412162
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/01/2025
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Sophie Pavelle is a US-born and UK-based science communicator. She worked for Beaver Trust and presented their award-winning documentary Beavers Without Borders. She is an Ambassador for The Wildlife Trusts and sat on the RSPB England Advisory Committee. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, National Geographic Traveller, New Scientist, The Independent and BBC magazines. Her first book, Forget Me Not, was widely praised for encouraging action against climate change and biodiversity loss.

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE

Me, The Moon

Relationship status: unrequited

1 + 1 = 1

The Mint Sauce Worm + The Algae = Animalgae

Relationship status: rather not say

Misfits

The Ocean Sunfish (and Others)

Relationship status: friends with benefits

The Trojan Horse

The Shore Crab and The Barnacle

Relationship status: just seeing each other

A Cad and A Bounder

The Early Spider Orchid and The Buffish Mining Bee

Relationship status: it's complicated

All Rise

The Hair Worm and [insert host here]

Relationship status: unhinged

Killing Me Softly

The Aspen, The Aspen Bracket Fungus and The Aspen Hoverfly

Relationship status: situationship

The Sleeper Agent

The Lungwort Lichen

Relationship status: throuple

Terms & Conditions

The Colony (of the Narrow-Headed Ant)

Relationship status: frenemies

EPILOGUE

The One-hit Wonder?

Relationship status: working on it

Editorial Reviews

“A terrific book; heavyweight and serious without ever losing its lightness of touch. It pulses with energy, perception and passion for the living world – and for the lessons and wonder it holds. With symbiosis as its focus, it takes the reader on a vivid journey into the complex, beautiful life-worlds of sunfish, lungwort lichen and the 'luminous republic' of aspen woodlands.”” —Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland

“From fungi and shellfish to oak trees, ants and solitary bees, Pavelle offers a bracing tour of the complex web of interconnections which support and give life to the natural world. […] Pavelle's own relationship with nature is clearly an intimate one. Her knowledge is exhaustive and is accompanied by beautiful, lively storytelling.” —The New Statesman

““A beautiful and fascinating exploration of a crucial subject – symbiosis – that will help you to see the world in a new light. This book is lucid, uplifting and delightful.”” —George Monbiot, author of Feral and Regenesis

““Sophie Pavelle's sheer enthusiasm for nature ensures that this is an attractive survey of a complex topic. … The eight case studies that make up the book are fascinating for their own sake, but also enlightening as microcosms of how ecosystems function – and [they] will be degraded by climate breakdown.”” —Times Literary Supplement

““This miraculous book completely blindsided me. I raced through its pages as though I was reading a beautifully written thriller, all the while learning so much about things I never knew existed. Scholarly and funny, To Have or To Hold is breathtaking and compulsive reading. It is a masterpiece, and a paeon of praise for the intricate nature of life.”” —Joanna Lumley

“A clarion call for our own species to rediscover its vital relationship with nature.” —National Geographic Traveller

“Joyful, hilarious and energetic, To Have or To Hold is filled with infectious enthusiasm for life in all its strange wonders. Much of modern nature writing focuses on individual species; Pavelle shows us that it is the relationships between them that really matter. From mint-sauce worms to tree lungwort, from parasites to symbiotic throuples, this is a glorious guide to coupling in the animal, plant and fungal kingdoms.” —Guy Shrubsole, author of The Lie of the Land and The Lost Rainforests of Britain

“Sophie Pavelle's exciting new book is about symbiosis, how things work together and the amazing interconnected web of life. She is one of the best nature writers of our time, and her ability to engage us, and to make readers giggle and feel empowered and motivated to do something is like no other. This is an absolute masterpiece.” —Megan McCubbin, author of An Atlas of Endangered Species and co-author of Back to Nature

““Mastering her unique style of drawing the reader, conspiratorially, into her research, Sophie Pavelle takes us on a deep and brave dive to the heart of the world's precarious and delicate balance. Showing us "the things we could do" to redress and reverse humanity's negative impact on our natural world, her voice is strong and true and imperative to our times.”” —Manni Coe, co-author of brother. do. you. love. me.

““Pavelle writes so vitally about nature, offering astonishing insight and hope. To Have or To Hold is an essential tale of the ultimate symbiotic relationship, between human beings and the natural world we rely on and threaten to destroy. Encompassing life and death, eradication and hope, this is a book I will press into the hands of loved ones.”” —Charlotte Philby, author of The End of Summer

““This profoundly significant book is a sumptuous, gorgeous coupling of intelligence and humour, of chutzpah and tenderness.”” —Jay Griffiths, author of Wild - An Elemental Journey

“A near-psychedelic tour through the mysteries and wonders of nature's symbiotic relationships. Travelling around the British Isles (via low-carbon methods only, of course), Pavelle reveals species and connections most of us will never have heard of – but which hold lessons for us all.” —Chantal Lyons, author of Groundbreakers

“"To Have or To Hold is a breath of wonder, of awe, of life, seen by someone so real on the page, you're right there with her. Sophie Pavelle writes in a way that is not just a tonic for this nature lover but a double gin and tonic. We need this book in our lives. Would you prefer to be the host or the parasite? Read Sophie's book, and you'll find yourself thinking about the answer."” —Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author of Nature Needs You and Fledgeling

““To Have or to Hold is startlingly good. Sophie Pavelle turns the complex world of symbiotic relationships into lucid prose, in a manner which seems utterly effortless, while losing none of the scientific rigour.”” —Hugh Warwick, author of Cull of the Wild

From the Publisher