1/ Walking Through, Christine Evans – walking in the dark on Ynys Enlli, Bardsey Island.
2/ Hand of a Giant, Siân Melangell Dafydd – discovering a passion for climbing as a child.
3/A Crow’s playground on Mynydd Hiraethog, Elaine Walker – a woman observes the natural world that circles her home.
4/ Diary of a Winter Afternoon, Sue Anderson – a mother takes a last walk with her son through their favourite wood, before he leaves home.
5/ Pencaer, Gwyneth Evans – leaving the farm which has been in her family for over 50 years, and where important archaeological remains have been discovered.
6/ The Rockpool, Dee Rivaz – growing up on the Anglesey shoreline and treasured memories of a childhood outdoors.
7/ Seeking the Positives, Ruth Joseph – watching kites in Rhayader and healing a lost friendship.
8/ No refund for clouds, Hilary Lloyd – the joy and the pain of living and working on a smallholding in Wales, and of having to leave.
9/ Horizontal Perspective, Patricia Barrie – on the advent of antibiotics, a young girl must lie in bed for months to rest her lungs. She describes the outdoor world she loves from the view out of her bedroom window.
10/ Lured by Boundaries, Emily Hinshelwood – a woman searching for inspiration, takes off to walk the Pembrokeshire coastal path.
11/ Painting Dyffryn Tanat, Jackie Davies – an artist describes how the landscape around her home inspires her work.
12/ Lloydia serotina – Life on the edge, Barbara Jones – conservationist and ecologist for CCW talks about her passion for researching the ecology and genetics of the Snowdon lily.
13/ Departure and Return, Carys Shannon – connecting with the same landscape before and after her mother’s funeral, at Three Cliffs Bay, Gower.
14/ Underground in Llethryd Swallet, Maggie Cainen – a caving expedition that ends in near disaster.
15/ Cwm Idwal, Jean Lyon – fi rst mountaineering experiences in North Wales.
16/ Half Way up, Katherine Cuthbert – continued active enjoyment of the Welsh countryside is possible despite MS.
17/ Y Coity, Martha Stephens – the beauty of a much loved, little visited mountain in the post-industrial landscape of Blaenavon, South Wales.
18/ Snowed in, Paula Brackston – exposed to the elements both beautiful and dangerous in a converted longhouse high up in the welsh hills.
19/ All at Sea, Jackie Williamson – sailing round the coast of Wales.
20/ Spirit of the Teifi , Sarah Boss – life and spiritual connections living near the Afon Teifi.
21/ Finding More than was Lost, Jill Teague – a fell runner reconnects with the landscape after a long, unexplained illness.
22/ Throwing the Magnet, Jay Griffiths – elements of the heart, tracks of memory and what it means to belong and to return.

The editor, Jane MacNamee, is a nature and travel writer and book reviewer, specialising in Wales. Her writing on travel and landscape has appeared in BBC History magazine, Resurgence, Time Out and Organic Living Magazine, and a number of poetry magazines. She has been living and walking in Wales for twelve years.

Full and serene, much more energetic than a mere mirror for the sun, the moon blazed across a vast calm expanse of sea...! Christine Evans

20 women writers from all over Wales recount their deep personal connections to the landscapes which have shaped their lives – their loves, their joys, their losses, their inner and their outer worlds.

With nature as healer and teacher as a common thread, this is a book about the unique bond with the natural world which comes over time spent in the company of wild things. There are stories where that bond is felt just for a moment – dolphins following a woman's sailing boat around the coast of Pembrokeshire; the arc of of red kite's tail feathers; a full moon over water; reaching the summit; the feeling of snow, or discovering stalactites underground. Others share their stories of a bond which has deepened over the years - walking a familiar mountain in all its seasons; a lifetime's work researching one of our rarest treasures, the Snowdon lily; rediscovering the land after a diagnosis of MS; memories of life by the sea on Anglesey; a love affair with climbing which started from childhood; and saying goodbye to the headland after 50 years of farming.

This book brings a feminine perspective, with both new and established voices, to contemporary nature writing in Britain.

The first contemporary British collection of women's nature writing -an exciting new addition to the increasingly popular world of the modern nature essay.

Will appeal to those with a particular interest in Wales, as well as more general appeal to lovers of William Condry, the Guardian's Country diarist for 40 years, Roger Deakin author of 'Waterlog and Wildwood', and Carl Honore's 'In Praise of Slow'.

A solid mix of both successful authors (Christine Evans, Jill Teague, Sian Melangell Dafydd, Ruth Joseph, Elaine Morgan and Patricia Barrie) and exciting newcomers.

Will be launched at The Guardian Hay Festival 2008


Endorsements
The following eminent writers and magazines will be providing
endorsements:

· Jay Griffiths, described as the 'best
voice of 21st century nature writing'
· Jim Perrin, the top outdoor climbing and nature writer in Britain today
· Walking Wales
· Resurgence
· The Pinnacle Club
· Hidden Europe magazine