A really unique collection of essays and poems centring the connections between health and nature. While I enjoyed reading all of the pieces, sometimes the connection between health/disability and nature was a bit murky and felt forced. Would still recommend to anyone interested in the subjects though as it was an enjoyable read.

‘Moving Mountains’ is a collection of 25 essays and poems centring on the theme of nature and chronic illness and disability. All the pieces are personal in nature and examine the authors relationship with their own health and the natural world.

Recently there has been a lot of new writing around nature and illness and disability. Possibly a result of the pandemic which made so many people realise how fragile health is and also a want to reconnect to nature has helped gather interest in this area which was previously unexplored and a voice that was missing from nature writing. As a result of this more recent increase though this book does arrive into a landscape where lots of similar writing and poems are also emerging making it perhaps a bit harder to stand out.

I do think that anthologies can be great as there is often something in there for everyone and each reader takes something different away than another reader might have done. That being said for me there were very much two stand out writers, Isobel Anderson who wrote a fantastic piece connecting her own health and challenges getting proper medical support with her walking. The other brilliant piece was by Eli Clare (who I’m really hoping will write lots more) whose essay looked at different modes of movement and how we physically get around in nature. Clare’s piece made me think and reflect and I loved how it challenged assumptions and spun things round to be looked at in another light. As someone who is disabled it definitely made me examine my own thoughts about movement and what is and is not talked about.

While I enjoyed the book overall it did at times feel as if the writers had written about their illness and then afterwards tried to find the link to nature and it felt the connection didn’t always sit quite right and something was off within the book as a result. Maybe if it had solely focused on illness or really pushed the nature side more this might not have been the case.

Overall I did enjoy this and I think that the range in the anthology could be a good place for people to get started in the genre to find further writers and themes that they would look into. However for me it didn’t have the potential powerful ness that it could have done.

Thank you to Footnote Press and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars.

Moving Mountains is an anthology of nature writing and essays, all from the lens of those living with illness and disability. I found it to be an immediately rewarding and illuminating read, as the author opens it with a brilliant introduction that covers the beauty of nature, their motivations for writing the book, and an insight into, specifically, why it’s important to see nature through the eyes of those with disabilities.

I found this to be a beautiful and thought-provoking read. Nature shines through in all of the essays, but so does humanness and a look into how many people live in our society. I am not chronically ill but I still took a lot from this book, understanding deeper how wild landscapes offer a sense of both solace and belonging.

"Moving Mountains" is a unique compilation of 25 essays, providing a remarkable glimpse into the world of disabled and chronically-ill authors. This anthology stands as pioneering work in its genre, shedding light on the lives of individuals for whom conquering physical mountains remains a dream. As someone who can personally relate to the challenges of chronic illness, I found solace and connection in the narratives shared within this collection. However, while the book offers profound insights into the daily struggles of these authors, the incorporation of nature elements occasionally lacked the impact I had hoped for. Nonetheless, "Moving Mountains" remains a valuable and enlightening read for anyone seeking to understand the resilient spirit of those who can't live their life in the ways they would like.

Moving Mountains: Writing Illness and Disability Through Nature is the first collection of essays of its kind that I’ve read. Curated and edited by Louise Kenward, twenty-five essays share a diversity of voices on living with chronic illness and/or a disability and how patterns, reflections and solace are found in nature. Many of the writers also explore how nature can be vehicle for change in regards to awareness around certain conditions, societal stigmas and treatment. In short, this isn’t an anthology which repeats that nature is a panacea for all ills, it is an anthology which wishes to acknowledge the many facets of nature and how it figures in our lives, particularly in the lives of those who often find themselves bed-bound or with limited mobility.

As a result, many of the pieces are both validating and enlightening, with the diversity of voice being incredibly refreshing. Moving Mountains encourages the reader to consider their relationship to nature, and personally, as someone who is chronically ill, it gave me pause and time to reflect upon how I can use nature and writing in tandem to process my own experience. You are encouraged to find a space of belonging in wild and natural landscapes and this was inspiring.

The inclusion of poetry was brilliant too as was the list of resources for several conditions at the end. My only gripe is how tenuous at times the link to nature felt, especially towards the end. The first ten essays were certainly the strongest and the best in demonstrating Kenward’s purpose in curating this collection. Despite this though, I’d still highly recommend this as an important read and I’m grateful a collection like this exists.