Heart of the Woods

Wyl Menmuir is a novelist, editor and literary consultant based in Cornwall. He is the author of the Man-Booker nominated novel and Observer Best Fiction of the year pick,The Many, and Fox Fires. His short fiction has appeared in Best British Short Stories and he has been published by Nightjar Press, Kneehigh Theatre and the National Trust.  ​He has written for Radio 4’s Open Book, The Guardian and The Observer, and is a regular contributor to the journal Elementum. ​Born in Stockport in 1979, Wyl now lives in Cornwall with his wife and two children. He is co-creator of the Cornish writing centre, The Writers’ Block, and works with Arvon Foundation, National Literacy Trust and Centre for Literacy in Primary Education on national literacy programmes, as well as lecturer in creative writing at Falmouth University. ​When he is not writing or teaching writing, Wyl enjoys messing around in boats.

"A charming work, full of vitality, that offers fascinating insights into our relationship with trees."  - Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree "With warmth and wisdom, Wyl Menmuir chronicles the manifold ways that humanity depends on trees. Journeying from Atlantic rainforests to Japanese forest shrines, Menmuir introduces us to a colourful cast of characters whose hearts lie in the woods: from ship-builders, bodgers and coppicers to roads protestors, tree-worshippers and ecologists. Not since Oliver Rackham has a writer so well appreciated the interweaving of woods and people." - Guy Shrubsole, author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain and Who Owns England?

• MapWOODLAND PLANTERA woodland in becoming on the border between North Wales and EnglandWILLOW WEAVERWoodland burials and willow coffin-making in CornwallWOODLORE GATHERERScience among the trees at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, and beneath them at Chalford, Gloucestershire HEARTWOOD CARVERAmong the bodgers in a field outside CambridgeBOAT BUILDERA Scillonian pilot cutter in the waters off Cornwall’s south coast, and a Highland birlinn in a green hollow in Glasgow’s former docklandsLANDSCAPE ROAMERDendles Wood, Dartmoor, and a community forest in the Scottish HighlandsISH WEARERThe clootie well at Munlochy on the Black Isle, Scottish Highlands, a family tree on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and the tree at Sycamore Gap, NorthumbriaFOREST BATHERSwimming in the woods at Devil’s Water, Northumberland,and walking in Tomnafinnoge Woods, County Wicklow, IrelandMYTH WALKERWalks in the fictional woods at Wenlock Edge, ShropshireWAY FOLLOWERIn the workshops of traditional woodworkers in Takayama, and a sacred forest in Shibuya City, TokyoSEED COLLECTORIreland’s ancient trees and a hidden fragment of oceanic rainforest in County Clare, IrelandFIRE LIGHTERThe stories we find among the flames and embers, Penzance, Cornwall13APPLE WAILERAn orchard in St Day, Cornwall, and the Globe Theatre, LondonTREE WORSHIPPERAn ancient yew grove on the border between England and WalesA Glossary of Tree WordsNotesSelected BibliographyAcknowledgementsIndex