The Orchid Outlaw
The Wainwright Prize, 2023
LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE & SHORTLISTED FOR THE RICHARD JEFFERIES AWARD
‘One man’s fascinating mission to save the great British orchid’ Mail on Sunday
‘Noble work in a time of great change’ New Statesman
Ben Jacob is the Orchid Outlaw. In the dead of night, armed with a torch and a trowel, he risks everything, climbing into building sites to rescue Britain’s rarest flowers from extinction. At once a memoir, a natural history and an inspiring manifesto for a better future, The Orchid Outlaw shows how we can all save our disappearing natural world, one plant at a time.
‘A vivid love letter to Britain’s orchids . . . Ben Jacob breaks all the rules with enormous success’ FRANCIS PRYOR
‘Unorthodox and precious’ Financial Times
‘Enchanting’ Country Life
‘A fearless battle and a lifelong passion . . . find out why Ben Jacob has risked heavy fines and even prison to save our endangered orchids’ Observer
‘One man’s fascinating mission to save the great British orchid’ Mail on Sunday
‘Noble work in a time of great change’ New Statesman
Ben Jacob is the Orchid Outlaw. In the dead of night, armed with a torch and a trowel, he risks everything, climbing into building sites to rescue Britain’s rarest flowers from extinction. At once a memoir, a natural history and an inspiring manifesto for a better future, The Orchid Outlaw shows how we can all save our disappearing natural world, one plant at a time.
‘A vivid love letter to Britain’s orchids . . . Ben Jacob breaks all the rules with enormous success’ FRANCIS PRYOR
‘Unorthodox and precious’ Financial Times
‘Enchanting’ Country Life
‘A fearless battle and a lifelong passion . . . find out why Ben Jacob has risked heavy fines and even prison to save our endangered orchids’ Observer
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Reviews
If this doesn't turn into one of the most talked about nature books of the year, I'll eat my hat. Brilliantly written, urgent and brave
A vivid love letter to Britain's wild orchids . . . Ben Jacob breaks all the rules with enormous success
A daring, delightful and galvanising call to save the world, one plant at a time
It's noble work in a time of great change. The Orchid Outlaw urges us to look closer and tread more carefully
The Orchid Outlaw . . . offers captivating descriptions of pre-dawn forays on to private land where housing developments will soon obliterate colonies of precious orchids
The book is written with a skip and drama, and will leave you furious that these strange and delicate plants have been so neglected
A brave, timely and inspiring example of how to exercise our moral obligation to care for the non-human beings we share the world with. The Orchid Outlaw is an empowering tonic to the environmental despair evoked by the lack of leadership from our lawmakers