Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival

by Alice Vincent

Overview

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE INDEPENDENT, STYLIST, RHS, GARDENS ILLUSTRATED and more

Women have always gardened, but our stories have been buried with our work. Alice Vincent is on a quest to change that: to understand what encourages women to go out, work the soil, plant seeds and nurture them, even when so many other responsibilities sit upon their shoulders. To recover the histories that have been lost among the soil and to understand women's lives, their gardens and what the ground has offered them.

Wise, curious and sensitive, Why Women Grow follows Alice in her search for answers, with inquisitive fronds reaching and curling around the intimate anecdotes of others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781838855468
Publisher:	Canongate Books
Publication date:	03/10/2026
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.72(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Alice Vincent is a journalist and the author of three books, including Why Women Grow and Rootbound: Rewilding a Life, both longlisted for the Wainwright Prize and named as a 'Book of the Year' by the Financial Times, Independent, Stylist and others. A self-taught gardener, Alice is a columnist for the Guardian and Gardens Illustrated and writes for titles including the Sunday Times, Observer, Vogue, New Statesman and Telegraph. She writes savour, a newsletter dedicated to the delicious things in life, and hosts the Why Women Grow and In Haste podcasts. She lives in South London.

@alicevincentwrites | @alice_emily

Editorial Reviews

"Above all, this is a wonderful tribute to the perseverance and tenacity of women . . . full of restless curiosity about gardening, life, the longing for meaning, and the simple yet quietly feminist act of creating a space for yourself" - Independent

"Why Women Grow shows the beauty and grit of tending the soil in difficult times" - KATHERINE MAY

"A poignant exploration of the relationship between healing and growing, and the power and mystery of nature" - New Statesman

"A thoughtful and beautifully written book, full of insights into life and nature. Vincent weaves women's garden stories together with the need to understand her own feelings about identity and the idea of motherhood" - Guardian

"Alice Vincent delves into what it is that makes women want to garden, uncovering what drives the urge to sow seeds and nurture plants, and by doing so goes on her own journey of discovery" - Sunday Times

"A conversational odyssey from a Canary Wharf balcony to Charleston, the Bloomsbury set's hangout, and a windswept smallholding in Denmark. Why Women Grow is the splendid-looking account of these encounters. The narrative unfurls like a vagabond anthology of potted biographies, confessions jostling alongside social commentary . . . If you enjoy window-shopping other people's lives, you'll relish this staggeringly diverse array of individuals. Vincent's affection for her subject is infectious" - Telegraph

"A beautiful meditation on the overlooked history of female gardeners, tracing how women have drawn strength and power from the natural world" - i

"Alice's writing is sublime. Gentle yet certain, warm yet fierce. Why Women Grow is an exquisite exploration of our many womanhoods and the reasons why some of us find our steadiness and solace in our relationship to the earth. I adored it" - CLAIRE RATINON, author of UNEARTHED

"One of those rare and special books that reminds you why, especially during trying times, you might suddenly find more joy in caring for a plant, or seeing the turn of Spring. Highly recommended!" - EMMA GANNON

Independent Whig.

"Why Women Grow shows the beauty and grit of tending the soil in difficult times"

KATHERINE MAY

"Both tender yet fierce . . . I loved it"

RAYNOR WINN

"One of those rare and special books that reminds you why, especially during trying times, you might suddenly find more joy in caring for a plant, or seeing the turn of Spring. Highly recommended!"

EMMA GANNON

"Alice Vincent delves into what it is that makes women want to garden, uncovering what drives the urge to sow seeds and nurture plants, and by doing so goes on her own journey of discovery"

Sunday Times

"Alice's writing is sublime. Gentle yet certain, warm yet fierce. Why Women Grow is an exquisite exploration of our many womanhoods and the reasons why some of us find our steadiness and solace in our relationship to the earth. I adored it"

CLAIRE RATINON

"A conversational odyssey from a Canary Wharf balcony to Charleston, the Bloomsbury set's hangout, and a windswept smallholding in Denmark. Why Women Grow is the splendid-looking account of these encounters. The narrative unfurls like a vagabond anthology of potted biographies, confessions jostling alongside social commentary . . . If you enjoy window-shopping other people's lives, you'll relish this staggeringly diverse array of individuals. Vincent's affection for her subject is infectious"

Telegraph

"A beautiful meditation on the overlooked history of female gardeners, tracing how women have drawn strength and power from the natural world"

i

"A thoughtful and beautifully written book, full of insights into life and nature. Vincent weaves women's garden stories together with the need to understand her own feelings about identity and the idea of motherhood"

Guardian

"A poignant exploration of the relationship between healing and growing, and the power and mystery of nature"

New Statesman