Twelve Words for Moss

A moving tale of recovery and reconnection and an immersive journey through British wetlands

Glowflake, Rocket, Small Skies, Kind Spears, Marilyn . . .

Moss is known as the living carpet but if you look really closely, it contains an irrepressible light. In Twelve Words for Moss, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett celebrates the unsung hero of the plant world with her unique blend of poetry, nature writing and memoir.

Making her way through wetlands from Somerset to Country Tyrone, Burnett discovers the hidden vibrancy of these overlooked spaces, renaming her favourite species of moss as she recovers from her grief at her father's death and draws inspiration from the resilience and tenacity of her plant — and human — friends.