Apothecary by the Sea

From the award-winning author of All My Wild Mothers: a lyrical, tender story of creating a wild apothecary garden on the islands of Orkney.

With the years of early motherhood and elderly caregiving over, Victoria faces a time of change. She and her husband decide to take a leap, moving hundred miles north of everything they know to the Scottish islands of Orkney, where the winters are long and the summers filled with light.  

In an unfamiliar landscape, Victoria instinctively returns to the work of growing, setting out to transform her scrappy backyard into an apothecary garden by the sea, inspired by Orkney's folklore and ancient landscapes.  

Shaped by tides and storms, wild plants and seaweeds, she creates a biodiverse backyard sanctuary filled with microhabitats, wildflowers and edible herbs. Here she crafts teas, tinctures and balms shaped by the surrounding soil and seas.  

As the year closes, Victoria finds belonging…