Twelve Words for Moss is a fascinating, subtle and risk-taking book; its remarkable opening pages in particular dis-orient and re-orient the reader, readying us for the forms of attention-giving to the overlooked and undersung world of mosses which the rest of the book beautifully practices. Poetry, descriptive-evocative prose, memory, memoir, natural history and more all drift and mingle in strikingly new ways in Burnett's book, down at the "boundary layer" where this ancient, modest life flourishes so generatively

Exquisite, luminous and quietly radical ... so electric and so alive. It makes the world more beautiful and dimensional and vibrant - or moreso, it shows the world as it is to our moss-blind, weary eyes with a prose style that is utterly unique and refreshing ... I loved it

This accomplished writer's prose - filled with figurative and tactile imagery - and interspersed poetry powerfully join the human body, mind, and spirit with the Earth

In this luminous book, poetry and dreamy prose weave a strange kind of mossy magic. Taking the “most overlooked of life forms” as her inspiration, Burnett explores intriguing parallels between the lives of mosses and her own… This is an intense book that rewards careful reading. I took my time over it, absorbing a few pages and then letting the beautiful, unforgettable imagery soak in. Burnett is a unique voice and one of our most original nature writers

The poet Elizabeth-Jane Burnett has woven a bittersweet travelogue-cum-nature memoir… It thrums with loss.

A masterclass in the art of prose writing, and my favourite nonfiction book in a very long time

Hybridity (of form, subject) is what makes Elizabeth-Jane Burnett's work sing, beguile. Part poet, prose nature writer and woodland psychogeographer, her voice is her own

Praise for The Grassling

A subtle, moving celebration of place and connectedness . . . The Grassling brings the sounds, smells and sights of the countryside alive like few other books. Burnett stretches the limits of prose, infusing it with poetic intensity to create a powerful, original voice . . . Her prose is both sinuous and knotty, stretching language to capture what is often beyond words, while slowing down the process of reading, allowing us to savour them

Exquisite . . . needs to be savoured slowly, and then read again. Burnett is breaking new ground as a mixed-heritage English/Kenyan woman connecting so deeply to the historic land of her father's family in the West Country

With a blend of poetry, memoir and a uniquely experimental, sensory style of nature writing, The Grassling celebrates the lusciousness of both land and language ... Ideas that might in a lesser writer have seemed whimsical are grounded by the rich layers of Burnett's prose

Caleb Azumah Nelson's writing captures nostalgia-that most essential of sentiments-like no other. I was immersed, transported, and at the same time affirmed in the familiar. Gorgeous

Small Worlds grabs you by the heart and holds tightly, revealing a story as beautiful and as lyrical as the words that adorn the pages.

Both intimate and inviting, Azumah Nelson weaves not just worlds but exquisite universes with his words. SMALL WORLDS is a masterful exploration of love, masculinity, coming of age and community, and Azumah Nelson's dextrous, sublime pen brings it into dazzling life.

A book which is alert and enlivening, at once serious and a pleasure to read

Small Worlds is a Vermeer universe of a novel, of warmth, deep feeling, aching and gorgeousness. To read is to be hugged by a rich brown oak, ever stretching out. It is as charged as it is earthed. It is wonderful.

It's a story about finding both one's identity and one's place in the world.

moving, intimate, and sizzling hot

Steeped in nostalgia, grief and heartbreak, yet somehow still hopeful, this is one of the best books I've read all year.

This story about rebuilding small worlds - places in which to feel beautiful and free - is itself a thing of beauty

Let's hear it for Caleb Azumah Nelson, also known as the future

An exhilarating new voice in British fiction

One of Britain's most exciting young voices

Hands-down the best debut I've read in years

The rhythms of Small Worlds are a feature of Nelson's quiet, particular ear and of a profound engagement with music. Nelson writes about closeness, with family, with lovers, with art, as careful, essential labour

A novel that feels as intimate as it does expansive; Caleb Azumah Nelson has given to us a love story that goes beyond two people. Instead, there are no bounds to his exploration of exactly what the heart can feel. Beautiful, unforgettable and all-consuming

A beautiful novel. Caleb Azumah Nelson is not just a storyteller; he is a cultural archivist of our time. At the core of Small Worlds is a deep love. Whether in music, locality, the people we are introduced to, or the circumstances that we journey and process through. Love is the offer, and Caleb's reminder for us is to lean into these offerings for history and reflection. For guidance, and most importantly, our survival.