The mark of a good book is that it changes you. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Nan Shepherd, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Jay Griffiths have all wielded that power over me, but I’ve rarely been so aware of an internal change being wrought, word by word, as I have these past days immersed in Kapka Kassabova’s alchemical prose. I fancy she had me under her spell from page one

Her ability to bring out the best in her subjects is born of a genuine horror at the unsustainability of the ways we live... But Elixir is not a lecture... Like the forests and fells it inhabits, it is by turns dark and mysterious and beautiful. Ecologically minded writing can often tell too much and show too little, but Kassabova sensibly lets the landscape and locals do the talking.

Uplifting and beautifully written... Elixir provides a glorious cycle of stories and personal testimonies.

Subtle prose that mingles empathy with perspective.

Humanity glitters under her gaze in all its facets. Her prose is spectacularly good and her storytelling is a joy.

A laudable attempt to record an endangered region and a disappearing way of life.

Exceptional.

This is a book to make you feel.

In her captivating latest, Kassabova transports us to the Mesta River in her native Bulgaria... Kassabova finds hope that this ancient knowledge still has the power to heal us.

Extraordinary... She allows her book to grow and swell, like a symphony, expanding and deepening its themes until the traditional wisdom and life of the mountain envelopes you entirely. Rather like a spell, in fact.

It soars with the luminous prose and unflinching honesty we have come to expect from this brilliantly gifted writer. Elixir is an extraordinary, profoundly moving book... Her prose is breathtaking, the stories heartbreaking.

A joyous celebration of the Pomak community in southern Bulgaria.

Wonderfully well researched, and candidly honest, Hewitt openly discusses topics which are often shied away from… this book is thought provoking and compelling

In her Nature reanimates the stories of the past to reveal, brilliantly, the conditions through which women so often have to battle in the present... [it] will make you want to run, and to experience something of the hard-won emotional and physical freedom that Hewitt's prose so movingly evokes

A powerful account of women's strengths and achievements in the mountains

A life-affirming book about the thrill of exploring the great outdoors, asking why so many women are excluded from running, hiking and mountaineering. It confronts the obstacles we face every day, including violence, assault and the general assumption that we don't belong here; but In Her Nature proves we have a right to run free

An urgent, beautifully written and fiercely important book

With intimate attention and in beautiful prose, IN HER NATURE moves deftly between the inner life and the great outdoors. Rachel Hewitt shows that not only do women have a history as runners, climbers and adventurers; we also have a right to the outdoors that is as crucial - and fragile - today as it ever was

A vital feminist memoir of life outdoors, underpinned by the depth of historical knowledge that only a true scholar can bring

An extraordinarily compelling book that left me seeing with fresh eyes. Blending expert historical storytelling with piercing memoir, Rachel Hewitt leads the reader over moors and mountains on a grand tour of grief, solitude, camaraderie, and women's long struggle to claim the freedom of the outdoors

A spectacular achievement... It's beautiful, deeply researched and eye-opening