Love Is A Toad

A lyrical exploration of our complex and intricate relationship with the natural world in all its muddy, messy and beautiful glory.Lucy Lapwing grew up playing out. A woodlouse-collecting, snail-racing, tree-climbing, muddy-footed child, she and her siblings spent more time playing outside than in. Lucy was always intrigued by the natural world, but it wasnt until she was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma at the age of twenty-three, that she found what she describes as The Nature Thing. Over the months of her chemotherapy treatment, she burrowed even further down the nature wormhole, distracting herself by bumbling around nature reserves and greenspaces, snapping photos of any wildlife she found.In her book, Love Is A Toad, Lucy seeks to explore and celebrate the world around us in all its muddy, messy and beautiful glory. Interwoven with her own story, Lucy takes to the fields, moors and footpaths of the UK with her fellow nature enthusiasts and digs down into the emotions which nature inspires. Through these interactions and Lucys own observations, she examines the connection we have with the natural world - from wild grief and anger through to soaring joy and indefatigable hope.