I was sent a copy of Spring Rain by Marc Hamer to read and review by NetGalley. While I quite enjoyed this memoir I also got a little frustrated by it! I really enjoyed the sections on the author’s formative years and the descriptions and Zen qualities of some passages were fabulous. I did find however, that there was an awful lot of repetition and I felt that there was rather too much waxing lyrical in some places, especially in the ‘Now’ chapters of the book. I also found the whole memoir to be rather melancholic, which I’m afraid somewhat overshadowed the optimistic and inspiring moments concerning both nature as a whole and gardening, hence the rating of just the 3 stars from me.

This is the first book I've read by Marc Hamer, and I'm wondering why I haven't discovered him before. If ever a book made me pause to reflect on almost every page, it's this one, and it's one I'll come back to again and again.

There are so many things that I relate to personally, especially the discovery of the encyclopaedia. I still have a treasured set, published in the 1930s, a gift to me at about age eight which I still treasure 60 years on.

This book is full of wisdom and know I will want to revisit all my favourite passages: wondering why people dismantle/kill things in order to understand them, being sat on by a cat as a reminder that there is nothing you need to get up to do, that you don't have to be social to be happy and mentally well-balanced - so many things that I think I've long been aware of but never put into words. And then there are all the discoveries about the world through the boy's perceptions of the wonders of nature, his creation of the out of scale train set, and so many more.

The chapters about Marc as a child and Marc as an old man are equally delightful despite his difficult childhood, his attention to every detail in the natural world, his evocation of the sounds and sights in nature using all the senses, his well-chosen metaphors, so that I can feel, hear, see everything he describes so clearly, so sensitively, so lyrically.

And all I can say about the beautiful last page when Marc gives a gift of flowers from his garden to his readers is thank you, Marc, for your gift of a truly wonderful book.

Spring Rain is a delightful and charming book which intersperses chapters of boyhood memories and current memories as a man in his sixties. Marc Hamer has a real gift of being able to invoke all the senses in his descriptive writing. His detailed observations really bring his words to life.

His childhood life is heart wrenching at times but I found it heart warming that this hasn’t defined his whole life and that he has got so much peace and solace from his love of nature throughout his life.

This is the perfect to book to curl up in a comfortable spot and let it soak in and take awake any stress and anxiety in your life.

This book talked to my heart and I was moved by the memories of the boy and the adult kept me reading as I found what he wrote enthralling.
Read it, it's a book I will read again.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This is a beautiful memoir whose chapters alternate between the younger self, referred to as the boy and the adult author. The boy thinks of his father as the angry dog and it becomes clear that their relationship is not a happy one. The adult is reflective and draws parallels between the childhood experiences and the way he lives as an adult. The sheds are a significant feature - the rain less so for me. There is a lesson in the pages about living simply, seeing and appreciating the small things around us that nature brings. The writing is beautiful, gentle, poetic and lyrical - in fact, to me, this is what makes the book. I loved the quotation from Milton's Paradise Lost at the end, it seemed very fitting.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the advanced copy, this is my first book from this author and I will go back and read seed to dust.

I do not know what else to say about this book other than it's absolutely beautiful. The author Marc Hamers writing makes you believe you are in this garden creating it with him, you are drawn in to this memoir and you are taken on this journey and all manner of emotions are evoked - from joy, happiness, tears and heartbreak.

This author has a fantastic ability and his descriptive detail is some of the best I have come across - his observations of the natural world in the garden leave you speechless.

Highly recommended

I loved Seed to Dust and was excited to see a new book by the author. I think Hamer writes incredibly well about gardening - like no-one else out there. His connection to nature is very deep and it was interesting to hear more about his biography. I found the boy's narrative a little slow to get into but it strengthened in the second half and was more of a contrast to his current narrative. Although this is a the third in a loose trilogy, I do hope there is more, especially on gardening.

This is a truly moving and beautiful book- poetic, thought provoking, life enhancing , melancholic, charming and ultimately full of heart. Marc Hamer takes us on a very personal journey as he creates a garden whilst simultaneously reflects upon his childhood and his journey into adult. This a memoir that moved me in so many ways; the child who loved nature and the written word; the child who didn't quite fit in; the child who was creative ; the child who observed the small details of the world around him. At times heart-breaking but also a message to us all that life is simply a curious, comical, difficult but also a beautiful journey when we step back from the insanity of commercialism and just reflect upon the simplicity of just being . Marc Hamer's descriptions of his gardens and the natural world - through his childhood- and in the creation of his new garden should breathe life into all of us. It is the tiny details and observations of plants, insects, growth and the seasons that make this book so special - I can only imagine the emotions that Marc must have reflected upon whilst writing this memoir but the wisdom, warmth, kindness and love towards a simple view of life that pervades its way from the age makes this a very special read. The personal and wonderful illustrations add another dimension.Highly recommended.. and yes the smell of the encyclopaedia Brittanica collection is eternal for those of us of a certain age

What a book to read, it made me lose myself in memories of the past. I found I was drifting off during this book into childhood memories and events. So descriptive I was there in the story with the man with the yellow bow tie. Did any man ever wear a straight one?

The garden shed was my dream as a child, I always wanted somewhere that was just mine.

A book to enjoy and one not to be hurried, just let your mind flow and remember.