Thank you to Akan Books and Netgalley for access to this ARC.

“Life is nothing if not a garden of possibilities”.

This is a really beautiful book about a woman coming to terms with everything that has happened in her life and grieving for that which hasn’t. The friendship which develops between Claire and Tansy is really lovely and the novel sheds a wonderful light on an aspect of womanhood which we don’t often see reflected in fiction.

The timeline does jump about a bit while Claire is reflecting on her past which can be quite difficult to follow, but that’s the nature of memory — it’s all a non-linear jumble. Some of these sections would have benefited from a tighter edit to aid the flow of the novel. But there is some truly beautiful, insightful writing here (“How her throat had felt for so long, in motherhood, marriage, like it would choke on all the unspoken”) and I’m very glad I read this novel.

Claire is having an identity crisis - she is in the throes of menopause, her children have grown and don’t need her any more, she has moved to the countryside and her work as an illustrator isn’t going well. All leading to lots of introspection, memories of past crises and lots of sex. Who knew that menopause makes you mourn every sexual experience you ever went through? Luckily, there’s a neglected garden and a cranky but
Knowledgeable old lady next door to distract Claire from all the sexual deprivation. Tansy wants to be dead but, failing that, passes on lots of couthy country wisdom and tips about how to resurrect the neglected garden and also, luckily, how to get Claire’s life back on track.
Actually, this is a very readable book ( despite the preoccupation with sex ) and you can’t help but cheer Claire on as she battles her demons and overcomes the obstacles life throws in her way. Go Claire!

Thank you to Akan Books for an ARC. This really is one of these books that will sit with you a long time after reading. Jenny Knight’s Wild Moon Rising debut is so vital and I am sad to say, a story often unheard and needed now more than ever. Protagnist Claire is returning to her working-class roots in Suffolk; now with grown up sons, post-divorce and grappling with her identity and the loss of her creative passion. Finding herself unrooted, outside of London and all she has shaped her life around. - Knight deftly takes the reader on this journey; it's both a lyrical unravelling and remaking of a creative life. What makes this book unique is how it deals with such common ground women face, once all those labels of wife, mother, homemaker are stripped back; what becomes of us in later life? Before she faces the future Claire looks back and there is a beautiful (and erotic) reflection on the phases of her body; her desire; her relationships; her joys, her anger. Joyfully written by Knight with dream-like reflection on the natural world. Her narration is thoughtfully poetic - juxtaposing past and present; the natural and social, while she toils in the garden she looks to nature, the moon, the wilderness of the sea, all creatively told through moon cycles. It is an important alley about sisterhoos as Claire also develops a wonderful friendship with an elderly neighbour Tansy.. I will be pressing a copy of Wild Moon Rising into my female friends hands as required reading. This book gives us courage to understand the unique ways we age, we desire and, just like the moon, we rise over and over again.

Claire has moved back to Suffolk, where she spent her childhood. Her new home is a cottage with a sorely neglected garden which she vows to renovate. Then she rescues her elderly neighbour Tansy, who has fallen over. The two women become firm friends. An enjoyable story.

Claire's' perspective on life is an interesting read with resonance to key stages in a woman's life. For me however the voice got muddied with the jumps between timelines and her interactions with Tansy, and the gardening knowledge she gained were far too brief. I think perhaps some editing to separate the time jumps in the narrative would help with the flow of this otherwise excellent story.

The storyline of this novel, a menopausal woman and an older woman helping to guide her into a new phase of life was a potentially interesting one. While it's possible for any story to be complex and to cover a wide range of areas, I found this book to be overly long, to jump from place to place, and be unnecessarily wordy, to not quite find a direction or focus. As if the author wanted to cram everything she had in her head into one place without editing. The areas of exploration don't flow well into one another, the storyline demands that you follow a rather jumpy, meandering and lengthy path. This comes across as a debut novel where the author hasn't fully found their voice or style. It would have benefited from being edited down to a more compact form. I know I'm speaking only for myself, others may find it more engaging, but sadly this was not for me. I found myself skimming much of it in the hope I would finally become fully connected with it, but that didn't happen. The writing is of good quality however.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book. A gorgeous 4 star read book from me. What an exciting plot, vivid storytelling and relatable, rich characters. I could put this book down – absolutely loved it.

A strange read. Loved the moons at the beginning of each chapter. It did not flow for me. It’s about friendship and finding yourself after your children go. Can’t mark it down. Read it