SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

'Tender, connected and considered' - Chris Packham
'Luminous' - Freya Bromley
'Extraordinary' - Dr Amir Kahn
'Uplifting, defiant, galvanising' - Sophie Pavelle
'A tender, rambunctious song of undilutable adoration' - Amy-Jane Beer

Nature makes us feel things. It sparks awe, curiosity and a sense of beauty and community. But as wildlife around us declines and disappears, murkier feelings rise up: guilt, detachment and fear for nature's plight. For many years, Lucy Lapwing wrestled with these tangled emotions. So, in an attempt to make sense of this dance between joy and grief, she decided to go on a journey.

In Love Is a Toad, Lucy traverses meadows, bogs and hedgerows with her fellow nature enthusiasts, where she digs down into our relationship with the natural world. Over the course of a year, she meets bucketfuls of wildlife - Blackbird and Oak, slugs and puffballs, waterlilies, Dung Beetles and toads - as she roams across the UK.

From a river swim to wanders through woodlands, with every journey, Lucy explores how nature makes us feel, from wild grief and anger through to soaring joy and indefatigable hope. At once a celebration and an invitation to reflect, Love Is a Toad prods and pokes at our connection to the natural world, exploring its complexity in all its muddiness, messiness and wonder.