The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing [Paperback]

In Everybody, Olivia Laing weaves a captivating exploration of gardens, both real and imagined, while reflecting on their cultural significance as symbols of paradise, privilege, and rebellion. The narrative follows Laing’s personal journey of restoring a walled garden in Suffolk and delves into the historical and literary connections to gardens—ranging from Milton’s Paradise Lost to the wartime sanctuary in Italy and Derek Jarman’s queer utopia at Dungeness. The book examines gardens as places of beauty and pleasure, but also as sites of exclusion and exploitation, often tied to slavery and colonialism. Laing also highlights the potential for gardens to offer radical visions for new ways of living, especially in the context of climate change, proposing gardens as spaces for communal dreams and experimentation.