Pollard, By Laura Beatty
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.In ancient English woodland a runaway girl, fleeing the chaos of a family where "problems grew in her head, as thick as the trees", slips season by season into the life of a hermit.
Anne's retreat from bruising humanity into a solitary life "against the grain of the time" forms the dappled, tangled backdrop to a remarkable first novel.
Punctuated by a "chorus of trees" and their "living record" of the past, this rhapsodic portrait of a loner in her landscape grows into a toughly beautiful version of pastoral.
Pollard joins the nature-mysticism of a Jeffries or Kipling with a newer green concern for the ruin of time-hallowed habitats.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments