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One Garden Against the World: In Search of Hope in a Changing Climate
Bloomsbury presents One Garden Against the World written and read by Kate Bradbury.
'If you ever doubted that you can help change the world, READ THIS BOOK.' CAROLINE LUCAS
'The greatest existential crisis we face distilled into the crucible of a tiny piece of paradise.' CHRIS PACKHAM
Five years after writing her first nature memoir, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, Kate Bradbury has a new garden.
It’s home to all sorts of wildlife, from red mason bees and bumblebees to house sparrows, hedgehogs and dragonflies. It seems the entire frog population of Brighton and Hove breeds in her small pond each spring, and now there are toads here, too. On summer evenings, Kate watches bats flit above her and for a moment, everything seems alright with the world.
But she knows habitat loss remains a huge issue in gardens, the wider countryside and worldwide, and there’s another, far bigger climate change. Temperature increases are starting to bite, and she worries about what that will mean for our wildlife.
In her uplifting new book, Kate writes passionately about how her climate-change anxiety pushes her to look for positive ways to keep going in a changing world. As in her first memoir, she invites you into her life, sharing stories of her mum’s ongoing recovery and her adventures with her new rescue dog, Tosca.
One Garden Against the World is a call to action for all of us – gardeners, communities and individuals – to do more for wildlife and more for the climate. Climate change and biodiversity loss go hand in hand, but if we work together, it’s never too late to make a difference.
'If you ever doubted that you can help change the world, READ THIS BOOK.' CAROLINE LUCAS
'The greatest existential crisis we face distilled into the crucible of a tiny piece of paradise.' CHRIS PACKHAM
Five years after writing her first nature memoir, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, Kate Bradbury has a new garden.
It’s home to all sorts of wildlife, from red mason bees and bumblebees to house sparrows, hedgehogs and dragonflies. It seems the entire frog population of Brighton and Hove breeds in her small pond each spring, and now there are toads here, too. On summer evenings, Kate watches bats flit above her and for a moment, everything seems alright with the world.
But she knows habitat loss remains a huge issue in gardens, the wider countryside and worldwide, and there’s another, far bigger climate change. Temperature increases are starting to bite, and she worries about what that will mean for our wildlife.
In her uplifting new book, Kate writes passionately about how her climate-change anxiety pushes her to look for positive ways to keep going in a changing world. As in her first memoir, she invites you into her life, sharing stories of her mum’s ongoing recovery and her adventures with her new rescue dog, Tosca.
One Garden Against the World is a call to action for all of us – gardeners, communities and individuals – to do more for wildlife and more for the climate. Climate change and biodiversity loss go hand in hand, but if we work together, it’s never too late to make a difference.
Audible Audio
Published June 6, 2024
34 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 10, 2025
I can feel very alone when worrying about climate change and trying to do my bit at home. But this is a brilliant book which shows there is a community of people who can do so much in the tiny spaces we have.
The book is a lovely journey following Kate’s wildlife garden with added tips and bite size information along the way.
I would recommend it to anyone wondering how they can help the wildlife from their own garden, no matter the size.
The book is a lovely journey following Kate’s wildlife garden with added tips and bite size information along the way.
I would recommend it to anyone wondering how they can help the wildlife from their own garden, no matter the size.
June 9, 2024
Gorgeous book, I love Kate's writing. Her love for wildlife shines and is quite contagious and inspiring.
June 16, 2025
I did enjoy it and learnt a lot but feel like I haven’t reached level 1 of gardening! Kate knows so much! About hedgehogs, bees, robins, swifts etc and I feel like I have a long way to go! I want to do more for wildlife the climate anxiety is strong with this one!
April 17, 2025
At one level I hated reading this book. It was a rare foray into ebook format and as a result, some sentences were cut off and unavailable to me. It is a testament to Kate Bradbury's compelling writing that I persisted. I often find people with big swings of mood hard to be with, hard to read their books - Bradbury isn't quite like that but she does seem raw, delicate, hand wringing... you almost find yourself wanting to do more for nature to protect *her*. But she is so very human - she has a dog, she likes being warm and cosy in bed, she likes (I think) visiting friends and family. These things are not givens amongst nature writers.
I think she depicts well the impact of big climate emergency concerns and the very special pain of indifference and bad actors on a more individual and local level. Fortunately she also shows the small delights to be had - listening to a pond full of frogs in the night. I wanted to hug her for what she says about people's gardens as they age and are less able to work in them. The title of the book is spot on.
I think she depicts well the impact of big climate emergency concerns and the very special pain of indifference and bad actors on a more individual and local level. Fortunately she also shows the small delights to be had - listening to a pond full of frogs in the night. I wanted to hug her for what she says about people's gardens as they age and are less able to work in them. The title of the book is spot on.
May 12, 2025
Wonderful book. It's very inspiring and hopeful with practical advice in a scary world of climate change and changes in wildlife numbers.
July 18, 2024
Superb, need to buy a copy to make notes in and refer to. Disagree with the Isabella Tree quote on the front tho, it did not feel like a balm against climate anxiety but it made me feel less alone in my feelings of anxiety and loss. Must read if you have a garden.
September 20, 2025
bit disappointed in this one. I thought I would absolutely love it, but I ended up quite on the fence. I think a lot of it is interesting. I especially appreciated the information about different species, what can be done to help them, and the practical advice for gardening etc. There’s a lot of climate anxiety in this book—with good reason. It’s not a bad thing in and of itself, and we can all use some urgency about it in our lives, but since the book cover talked of hope I wasn’t expecting to feel so much anxiety. In fact, I’d say that the ratio of anxiety to hope in the book is decidedly way over the former, not the latter. I also usually really enjoy the memoir parts of these books, but the author often rubbed me the wrong way in those parts. She seemed to often frame herself/her anxiety as unique, a solitary concern in a sea of indifference and uncaring, nature-destroying actions, while simultaneously constantly being surrounded by people who care and helped her. And I partly get it! I also have felt like I was the only one around me who care about an issue “the right amount” and wanted to pull my hair out at other people’s uncaring attitudes! How could they not realise how important this is?! How urgent? Unfortunately, in book form, it just came off as self-praising, the anxiety so palpable with nowhere to go. idk how to explain it properly. It almost made me DNF in the first third or half but it levelled out as the book carried on. So overall, not a bad read, but a mixed bag of an experience.
September 11, 2024
I enjoyed the diary/log book style, and the obvious passion the author has for the natural world. There were interesting sub chapters detailing particular species, and a final 'how to' chapter at the end which, if you haven't already cottoned on, gives some brief ideas on how to make your garden better for wildlife.
I confess to getting a little worn down by, what felt like, the constant bemoaning the climate crisis and wildlife demise. As someone who is already interested, it felt like preaching to the converted, and I skimmed quite a few passages for this reason.
I confess to getting a little worn down by, what felt like, the constant bemoaning the climate crisis and wildlife demise. As someone who is already interested, it felt like preaching to the converted, and I skimmed quite a few passages for this reason.
May 26, 2025
Everyone needs to read this book. Terrifying pretty much the whole way through but written with beautiful prose and moment of joy.
It made me realised that I need to do something. Even something small in my own garden.
It made me realised that I need to do something. Even something small in my own garden.
May 23, 2025
A great read about how one person can make it a difference even if it’s just to one set of robins or to a bunch of caterpillars.
July 30, 2024
2.5 stars awarded
There's a saying in permaculture attributed, I think, to Bill Mollison that says all problems in the world can be solved in a garden and this book is a demonstration of one way in which it can be achieved. There are many ways.
What comes over strongly is Bradbury's stress or eco-anxiety and how her garden is the solution to this and sometimes an oasis in a sea of those who don't see nature and wildlife. There is the man who uses a drone to hassle seagulls, who are a protected species believe it or not, or those who have plastic grass or any number of unfriendly attitudes towards wildlife and this wore me down a bit and created some tension which may have been the desired outcome but I didn't enjoy it.
What I was interested in were the things that we can do in our gardens to help. I got quite excited when I came early on to the section about ivy.
I strongly believe that ivy can be a significant tool in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis and indeed absorbing CO2, that it should be grown up every house, every office block, every patch of city that doesn't have space for a tree but does have room for a small trellis... There's no need to water ivy because it's drought tolerant, no need for feeding or tying in.
p34
This is what I wanted from the book. Things that I can do and an explanation about their benefits. There are so many for ivy - food and shelter being two of the most important. But unfortunately, the book didn't carry on in quite the same vein being more a description of Bradbury's garden, I have seen the pictures in articles, and from this we must extract what we can do: collect water; build a pond; feed the hedgehogs etc.
The reveiws of the book are good but it just didn't do it for me. However, I would recommend it to others because it clearly appeals when you read online reviews.
There's a saying in permaculture attributed, I think, to Bill Mollison that says all problems in the world can be solved in a garden and this book is a demonstration of one way in which it can be achieved. There are many ways.
What comes over strongly is Bradbury's stress or eco-anxiety and how her garden is the solution to this and sometimes an oasis in a sea of those who don't see nature and wildlife. There is the man who uses a drone to hassle seagulls, who are a protected species believe it or not, or those who have plastic grass or any number of unfriendly attitudes towards wildlife and this wore me down a bit and created some tension which may have been the desired outcome but I didn't enjoy it.
What I was interested in were the things that we can do in our gardens to help. I got quite excited when I came early on to the section about ivy.
I strongly believe that ivy can be a significant tool in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis and indeed absorbing CO2, that it should be grown up every house, every office block, every patch of city that doesn't have space for a tree but does have room for a small trellis... There's no need to water ivy because it's drought tolerant, no need for feeding or tying in.
p34
This is what I wanted from the book. Things that I can do and an explanation about their benefits. There are so many for ivy - food and shelter being two of the most important. But unfortunately, the book didn't carry on in quite the same vein being more a description of Bradbury's garden, I have seen the pictures in articles, and from this we must extract what we can do: collect water; build a pond; feed the hedgehogs etc.
The reveiws of the book are good but it just didn't do it for me. However, I would recommend it to others because it clearly appeals when you read online reviews.
April 19, 2025
Heartfelt Plea To Save the Planet...With Your Garden.
There are 30 million gardens in the UK. Think of the positive impact on wildlife and the planet if we all managed them sustainably. If we stopped tarmacking over our front garden and stopped paving or gravelling our back yards. What if we all let our grass grow, stopped spraying herbicide everywhere, built a pond, planted flowers and trees, cut a hedgehog highway in our fences. How wonderful it would be for wildlife to flourish once again.
Kate Bradbury takes us through the highlights, dramas, and frustrations of managing a city wildlife garden. Unfortunately, not all her neighbours are on the same page. Having my own wildlife garden, I sympathise entirely with her struggles. As she states, sometimes it feels as if it's one garden against the world on many levels. However, she is not alone in her struggles, and there are thousands of other gardeners trying to achieve the same thing.
Is there hope for wildlife? Is there hope for mankind? Can the two co-exist? They have to for all our futures. So next time you consider mowing your lawn every week or buying a pesticide to kill the weeds in the pavement or drive cracks, think of the wildlife. Put the pesticide back on the shelf and the mower back in the shed and give wildlife a chance.
There are 30 million gardens in the UK. Think of the positive impact on wildlife and the planet if we all managed them sustainably. If we stopped tarmacking over our front garden and stopped paving or gravelling our back yards. What if we all let our grass grow, stopped spraying herbicide everywhere, built a pond, planted flowers and trees, cut a hedgehog highway in our fences. How wonderful it would be for wildlife to flourish once again.
Kate Bradbury takes us through the highlights, dramas, and frustrations of managing a city wildlife garden. Unfortunately, not all her neighbours are on the same page. Having my own wildlife garden, I sympathise entirely with her struggles. As she states, sometimes it feels as if it's one garden against the world on many levels. However, she is not alone in her struggles, and there are thousands of other gardeners trying to achieve the same thing.
Is there hope for wildlife? Is there hope for mankind? Can the two co-exist? They have to for all our futures. So next time you consider mowing your lawn every week or buying a pesticide to kill the weeds in the pavement or drive cracks, think of the wildlife. Put the pesticide back on the shelf and the mower back in the shed and give wildlife a chance.
March 15, 2025
I cried so much during this book but feel galvanised to keep feeding the robins, jays and big birds in London and am gonna plant sunflowers and bee seeds in the window box’s on my top floor flat.
it’s a brilliant book that is so honest about the state of the world but in a way that makes you realise _you_ can make an actual difference. And you should xo
it’s a brilliant book that is so honest about the state of the world but in a way that makes you realise _you_ can make an actual difference. And you should xo
July 27, 2024
Arden against the world
Marvellous description of one woman’s garden in Brighton, her hedgehogs 🦔 and pond especially ! A very good passionate rallying cry and I learnt a great deal from it !
Marvellous description of one woman’s garden in Brighton, her hedgehogs 🦔 and pond especially ! A very good passionate rallying cry and I learnt a great deal from it !
October 4, 2024
An inspiring story of how even one small suburban garden can make a difference in a time of worrying climate change. You'll fall in love with the hedgehogs and the toads. Be turning pages to follow the hatching of the Robins eggs.
March 20, 2025
Great book about what we are facing as a world. It is lovingly written and focused on Great Britain but there are aspects that can be applicable to any place that you live she's inspired me to do some things differently may we all all hope that it makes a difference!
December 11, 2024
Slightly a super fan of Kate Bradbury and if she asked for a call to arms I'd be there!!! Yes she's honest about the state we are in, someone needs to be!!
I'm off to go build a pond.
I'm off to go build a pond.
June 20, 2024
I always enjoy the writing and passion of Kate Bradbury, and this latest book carries on her campaign to get more people engaged with nature and how they can make an impact, no matter how big or small their garden or surrounding area may be.
In this book she shares her own gardening experiences and the impact that it has on the wildlife in her local area, and also shares many tips and hints on how we can do the same in our own garden. It is definitely one of those books where I'll be making notes and returning to various chapters to try different things.
What I also enjoyed was that it's written in diary form, taking you through the months from May onwards sharing what jobs are needed, the kinds of wildlife and plants you might expect to see and how to expand on your own plot with just some little tweaks and changes. And the fact that just a little effort really does go a long way for the sake of nature.
I share her sadness that so many people feel disconnected from nature nowadays, and in this book she shares what she has encountered, whether it's been helping various forms of wildlife to adding different habitats and plants for helping the wildlife. I also adored how she described her garden as being 'set free' when she lets it go a bit and doesn't get too tidy! That's a form of gardening I can totally get on board with and relate to!
At the end of the book there's a wonderful list of tips to help you more in your garden as well as a reading list and websites to visit, which helps you find even more information! A must read for everyone wanting to do their bit for wildlife!!
In this book she shares her own gardening experiences and the impact that it has on the wildlife in her local area, and also shares many tips and hints on how we can do the same in our own garden. It is definitely one of those books where I'll be making notes and returning to various chapters to try different things.
What I also enjoyed was that it's written in diary form, taking you through the months from May onwards sharing what jobs are needed, the kinds of wildlife and plants you might expect to see and how to expand on your own plot with just some little tweaks and changes. And the fact that just a little effort really does go a long way for the sake of nature.
I share her sadness that so many people feel disconnected from nature nowadays, and in this book she shares what she has encountered, whether it's been helping various forms of wildlife to adding different habitats and plants for helping the wildlife. I also adored how she described her garden as being 'set free' when she lets it go a bit and doesn't get too tidy! That's a form of gardening I can totally get on board with and relate to!
At the end of the book there's a wonderful list of tips to help you more in your garden as well as a reading list and websites to visit, which helps you find even more information! A must read for everyone wanting to do their bit for wildlife!!
July 25, 2025
A nice bit of nature writing and while it’s set in a UK urban garden, there is much that is applicable no matter where you live. This is written more memoir-style, with each chapter focusing on a different month, so it’s more narrative than fact-based, and easy to read.
Kate Bradbury shares a heartfelt plea through her actions and words to care about the climate crisis, and in some sense I feel anger and frustration and sadness leaking from these pages. The title of the work is her “against the world,” after all. It can feel a touch exhausting to have that emotional thread through each chapter … HOWEVER, I think, in the end, what I took away from Kate’s experiences was that is wasn’t ever just her against the world. It was never one person, one garden. She had a knit-together community of family and friends and neighbors that only ever increased.
I understand why she feels the need to share her frustrations about interactions with climate-change-deniers, to share her anger when others don’t see what she sees… but all I saw was the positive interactions she kept having.
Through Facebook (yes, Facebook) she found others to care about the jerky neighbor with a drone messing with gull nests, little kids in a nearby playground would let her know when they spotted a hedgehog in need of rescue, and even her mother who struggled with recovery after a brain hemorrhage had a garden to tend.
It’s not only one garden; it can’t only be one garden. Therein lies the hope.
Kate Bradbury shares a heartfelt plea through her actions and words to care about the climate crisis, and in some sense I feel anger and frustration and sadness leaking from these pages. The title of the work is her “against the world,” after all. It can feel a touch exhausting to have that emotional thread through each chapter … HOWEVER, I think, in the end, what I took away from Kate’s experiences was that is wasn’t ever just her against the world. It was never one person, one garden. She had a knit-together community of family and friends and neighbors that only ever increased.
I understand why she feels the need to share her frustrations about interactions with climate-change-deniers, to share her anger when others don’t see what she sees… but all I saw was the positive interactions she kept having.
Through Facebook (yes, Facebook) she found others to care about the jerky neighbor with a drone messing with gull nests, little kids in a nearby playground would let her know when they spotted a hedgehog in need of rescue, and even her mother who struggled with recovery after a brain hemorrhage had a garden to tend.
It’s not only one garden; it can’t only be one garden. Therein lies the hope.
July 25, 2025
I have started reading this and I've enjoyed it a lot, it's a very different book to any I've read, and I'm looking forward to learning from what the writer did and hopefully get some good tips about what to do in my own garden, as long as the emphasis is not on spending money.
I've had to shelve the book for the moment though because it's mid July and I'm a couple of weeks behind with the work in my garden and have to prioritise action rather than reading.
Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again in autumn.
I've had to shelve the book for the moment though because it's mid July and I'm a couple of weeks behind with the work in my garden and have to prioritise action rather than reading.
Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again in autumn.
August 16, 2025
I love the way "One Garden Against the World" by Kate Bradbury mixes practical advice with lyrical prose, hard scientific data with humour.
I found myself taking notes as I was reading. This is certainly a book I'll be returning to multiple times in my rewilding journey.
I can highly recommend it to everyone who cares about nature and the future of our planet!
I found myself taking notes as I was reading. This is certainly a book I'll be returning to multiple times in my rewilding journey.
I can highly recommend it to everyone who cares about nature and the future of our planet!
January 6, 2025
This book is like a salve on an aching wound. In a world where climate threats and species extinctions are the new "normal," it is good therapy to focus on steps one can take to "be the change you want to see in the world."
June 25, 2025
1.75 ⭐️ This one was very in the weeds. I thought it would be more big picture and practical rather than a personal journal that had sub chapters focused on different species. This one did not do it for me.
March 8, 2025
Heartfelt blueprint for spending time in and caring for the nature around us.
April 22, 2025
💚🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️💚
May 16, 2025
Very readable
August 14, 2025
This beautiful, beautiful book broke my heart. All governments should be made to read this. Sadly, they still wouldn't act.
September 10, 2025
I'm a fellow traveller but this left me with little hope. A personal story of a year in gardening west of Brighton, and fighting shyness to bring people together.
October 5, 2025
in search of hope? I don't think I've ever read a more anxious book. I don't know how one makes a nature book this relentless depressing, but if you're looking for "hope", look elsewhere.
November 15, 2025
Audio version is read by the author. I love her (UK) accent and as soon as you hear about the hoglets (baby hedgehogs), you'll be smitten too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews