Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story

Marc Hamer

Apr 2021 · Bolinda · Narrated by Owen Teale

Audiobook

9 hr 48 min

Unabridged

Eligible

Ratings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More

Want a 15 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.

Add

Switch to the ebook

About this audiobook

Any garden belongs to everyone who sees it – it is like a book and everybody who visits it will find different things. Marc Hamer has designed and nurtured 12 acres of garden for over two decades. It is rarely visited so he is the only person who fully knows its secrets; but it is not his own. His relationship with the garden’s owner is both distant and curiously intimate, steeped in the mysterious connection which exists between two people who inhabit the same space in very different ways. In this life-enhancing audiobook, Marc takes us month-by-month through his experiences both working in the garden and outside it, as the seasons’ changes bring new plants and wildlife to the fore and lead him to reflect on his past and future. Through his peaceful and meditative prose we learn about gardening folklore and wisdom, the joys of manual labour, his path from solitary homelessness to family contentment and the cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden’s life and our own.

About the author

Marc Hamer was born in the North of England and moved to Wales over 30 years ago. After spending a period homeless, then working on the railway, he returned to education and studied fine art in Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent. He has worked in art galleries, marketing, graphic design and taught creative writing in a prison before becoming a gardener. His first book, A Life in Nature or How to Catch a Mole, was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize.

Owen Teale is an established Welsh actor, best-known for his role of Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones. After training at the Guildford School of Acting, Owen made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys in 1984. He has since appeared in A Discovery of Witches (2021), Pulse (2017), Ripper Street (2016) and River (2015), among others. Owen has also performed on the stage, winning the 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Torvald in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and computers

You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

Report illegal content