Ribbons and Inspiration

A beautiful book is being published this week. This book made me cry when I first read the manuscript, and after I acquired it for Summersdale and was the editor, it made me cry again. Written by a young English woman, it's about love and life and death, fear and surfing, busking with a cello to see the midnight sun... and finding strength. It truly is an inspiring read. 

I recently read the best-seller WILD by Cheryl Strayed, and although I found it an excellent book, it didn't affect me like THE RIBBONS ARE FOR FEARLESSNESS by Catrina Davies. This book needs good word-of-mouth support, so perhaps you could go onto Amazon, read a few pages and see what you think. 

I've just finished editing winemaker and author Caro Feely's new book: SAVING OUR SKINS: BUILDING A VINEYARD DREAM IN FRANCE. Following on from the success of her first book, GRAPE EXPECTATIONS, which we published while I was at Summersdale, this is an entertaining story of the ups and downs of converting their operation into a fully certified organic and biodynamic farm. 

Something I read in the book struck me very powerfully, even though I'd consider myself already a believer in the good of organic farming. She talks about seeing chemicals being sprayed onto vines in conventional vineyards - chemicals so extremely toxic that the packaging advises that you shouldn't enter the vineyard for 48 hours after spraying - chemicals they are firmly against using. This really hits home when she adds that grapes aren't washed before they are made into wine. If I could buy organic wine today after reading that, I would. This book is an inspiration to everyone who feels they should buy organic but isn't sure why. SAVING OUR SKINS will be published by Summersdale in July 2014.

Talking of Summersdale, publishers of these two fine authors (as well as a little book called Falling in Honey...) they have just been awarded IPG Independent Trade Publisher of the Year - a great and well deserved achievement!