Love Is a Toad

‘Tender, connected and considered’ – Chris Packham
‘Luminous’ – Freya Bromley
‘Extraordinary’ – Dr Amir Kahn
‘Uplifting, defiant, galvanising’ – Sophie Pavelle

Nature makes us feel things. It sparks awe, curiosity and a sense of beauty and community. But as wildlife around us declines and disappears, murkier feelings rise up: guilt, detachment and fear for nature’s plight. For many years, Lucy Lapwing wrestled with these tangled emotions. So, in an attempt to make sense of this dance between joy and grief, she decided to go on a journey.

In Love Is a Toad, Lucy traverses meadows, bogs and hedgerows with her fellow nature enthusiasts, where she digs down into our relationship with the natural world. Over the course of a year, she meets bucketfuls of wildlife – Blackbird and Oak, slugs and puffballs, waterlilies, Dung Beetles and toads – as she roams across the UK.