A new collection of stories which brings together Avril Joy’s finest published and unpublished work. From the Costa winning Millie and Bird to the recent A Morning Tide, listed for the Fish Short Memoir Prize, she weaves narratives of hope in the face of loss, transformation and redemption, and writes of the enduring power of love.

Combining a poet’s gift for language with a keen naturalist’s eye, Avril Joy takes her readers on journeys across landscapes from Venice to the East Anglian Fens, from Cape Cod to the shore temples of Mahabalipuram. Moving and poignant, told with an unerring compassion, the characters are both vulnerable and strong in adversity. Avril Joy explores first love, families, marriage, childhood, mothering, social class, escape, gardens, birds, seas, tides and stray dogs. These are stories about the wild places we call home.