This is a story about the rain, a boy, an angry dog and a gardener, and how some of them find peace and freedom... In Spring Rain, writer and gardener Marc Hamer shares his path from difficult beginnings to contentment, by way of family gardens. As a young boy in a violent home, Marc found refuge in his small back garden. Here he kindled a lifelong love of nature and learning by observing the plants and insects in his private kingdom and reading the old encyclopaedias he found in the shed. Marc has always found the answers to life's questions in the natural world, whether as a child watching ants, as a young man living rough in the countryside, or as a professional gardener creating places of calm and restoration for others. Now in his sixties, he is finally creating a garden for himself, at his home in Cardiff. In this beautiful and moving memoir, he considers what he has learned, from the spring of youth to his autumn years, and reflects on how we reconcile our childhoods with where we end up. With line drawings by the author, Spring Rain encourages us back in tune with the natural world and offers both consolation and a guide to a happier life. PRAISE FOR MARC HAMER: 'Marc Hamer knows how to live - simply, sparely, reverently, abundantly. Spring Rain is a tonic for the soul' Sy Montgomery, author of How to Be A Good Creature 'A wonderful book about our relationship with the earth, with other animals and with our own troubled humanity' Max Porter 'Wholly original... on how to live, how to be calm and content with only a little, in a quietly humming garden' Daily Mail