'Tender, connected and considered' - Chris Packham'Luminous' - Freya Bromley'Extraordinary' - Dr Amir Kahn'Uplifting, defiant, galvanising' - Sophie PavelleNature 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.
More like this
The Drunken Forest
Gerald Durrell · 2026
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan
Lyse Doucet · 2025
The Genius of Trees: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World
Harriet Rix · 2025
Ladybird Audio Adventures: Mountains
Ladybird · 2024
Animate: How Animals Shape the Human Mind
Michael Bond · 2026

The flow
Amy-Jane Beer · 2023
Indignity: A Life Reimagined
Lea Ypi · 2025
The Warrior Walker: How I Found Resilience, Purpose and Meaning on Britain's Coastline
Paul Harris · 2026
The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise
Olivia Laing · 2024
Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape
Manchán Magan · 2026

Two minutes to midnight
Roger Hermiston · 2025
Blood Will Flow: The Murderous Business of Oil and Gas
Alex Perry · 2026