Divide, Anna Jones
Divide, Anna Jones
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Divide
The relationship crisis between town and country: Longlisted for The 2022 Wainwright Prize for writing on CONSERVATION

Author: Anna Jones

Narrator: Anna Jones

Unabridged: 11 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Kyle Books

Published: 03/03/2022


Synopsis

This book is a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems in our food system and environment.

As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers - who manage two thirds of the UK's landscape - working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and bring back nature in diverse abundance. But this fledgling progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement.

Each chapter, from Family and Politics to Animal Welfare and the Environment, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna's personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm. There is a simple theme and a strong message running throughout the book - a plea to respect our differences, recognise each other's strengths and work together to heal the land.

(P)Octopus Publishing Group 2021

About Anna Jones

Anna Jones is a well-known journalist, broadcaster, blogger and Nuffield Farming Scholar. She is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today, On Your Farm, Costing the Earth, Food Programme and BBC World Service, and a freelance producer/director on BBC One's Countryfile. She writes for the Guardian and farming trade press and is the presenter of a new 5-part BBC Radio 4 series Battle Grounds: Culture Wars in the Countryside. Growing up on the Welsh Borders, from at least five generations of farmers on her father's side and a long line of butchers and farm labourers on her mother's, Anna's heritage is deeply rooted in working class, conservative, rural values.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on January 04, 2023

It's probably getting a bit boring, watching me hand out yet another five star review. Sorry. I'd love to say something controversial, but I was really impressed with this book. Of the few rural books I've read so far (see my green shelf), I would say this was the most balanced, considered and compr......more

Goodreads review by Fiona on January 15, 2025

An incredible book 🥰 Anyone who eats food should read this. Anna has managed to distil so many big topics so beautifully, personally and eloquently. I’ve both laughed out loud and had tears in my eyes. Especially important in the current time with debates over inheritance tax, climate change and housi......more

Goodreads review by Richard on January 24, 2023

It feels like this is the book that Anna Jones was born to write. It is without doubt a book that she is eminently qualified to write. It is a good read too. I have looked forward to reading this for some time and was in no way disappointed when I finally did. I am as conscious as Anna is of the shar......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on September 18, 2023

Divide by Anna Jones is a memoir (but so much more!) exploring the many differences between town and country. Each chapter covers a theme – including politics, diversity, food and environment. Anna’s pedigree as a journalist and interviewer shines through. Whilst Anna has lived in both town and coun......more

Goodreads review by Chantal on June 20, 2022

'Divide' is an engaging read that mixes memoir with interviews with a wide range of people from agriculture. Jones comes from a farming family, and she writes movingly of her Welsh farming heritage and the (often tested) bonds between her family and the land they have variously owned, lost, and rega......more