Wild Woman

Philippa Forrester’s career as a presenter began with Children’s BBC and spans three decades of primetime TV, including much-loved series like Robot Wars and Tomorrow’s World as well as natural history programming. Philippa has written and produced award-winning documentaries for the BBC, Animal Planet and Discovery and has published three books. She has degrees in English Literature and Ecology and Conservation and graduated from Bath Spa University with an MA in Writing for Young People.For six years, Philippa lived and worked in Wyoming encountering wolves, grizzly bears, moose and the odd cowboy. She returned to live in the UK in the summer of 2020. Back home, she is rediscovering her own patch of wilderness and the joys of the English countryside, especially her favourite wild animal, otters.@philippaforrest

• Prologue: A Tsunami of the SoulChapter 1: The True Power of a MacheteChapter 2: What Really is a Wild Woman, then?Chapter 3: Memories – Scrambled Brain Anyone?Chapter 4: Spekboom to RebloomChapter 5: What I Can DoChapter 6: PerseveranceChapter 7: The GroundworkChapter 8: Clearing the WayChapter 9: WoodswomanChapter 10: It isn't Just Tree HuggingChapter 11: A Visit to the ZooChapter 12: Decades OnChapter 13: Looking Back AgainChapter 14: A Rewrite?Chapter 15: A Fascination for PlantsChapter 16: Knowing My PlaceChapter 17: Surviving MotherhoodChapter 18: When Doing What it Takes Doesn't WorkChapter 19: I Don't Believe in SignsChapter 20: CreationChapter 21: From Stick to ChickChapter 22: This Place is BuzzingChapter 23: Out of the DepthsChapter 24: An Enduring ThemeChapter 25: AcceptanceChapter 26: Letting GoChapter 27: The Killer MenopauseChapter 28: A State of AweEpilogue: Hugging the Bloody TreeNotesAcknowledgementsIndex

After years of child-rearing and being wifely, Philippa Forrester emerges with a lot of pertinent questions. Wild Woman is a piercing, funny, self-deprecating answer to what it is to be wild. Locally, globally, diverse and female, it is full of a lifetime's awe – and wise. This delightfully brilliant, sometimes rightfully angry book, puts women where they should be: at the heart of conservation, knowing what it is to be wild, to tune in, mend and support the natural world and our place in it. I am cheering her, and all these wonderful women on!