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This was the message New York Times bestselling author Margaret Renkl shared in a 2023 speech to graduates at the University of the South in Sewanee. Preparing her remarks, she wondered what counsel she could possibly offer young people entering a professional world that looks incalculably different from the one she entered after college. She wondered, too, why this audience should trust her, when her generation is the one that wrecked so much of what should be precious.
Instead of offering advice for success, she decided to pass along the most important truth she has learned from simply living in the world: how to survive despair, one glimmer of light at a time.
In this short book, Renkl expands on her speech, drawing on her work as a teacher, journalist, author, and backyard naturalist to provide both inspiration and grounded guidance to anyone searching for hope in a troubled world. Yes, we are at a moment of great peril—to the earth, to democracy, to respect for human dignity. But, Renkl argues, realism and hope are not opposing views. All change begins with finding something to fight for and reasons to keep fighting. The living world, she reminds us, is still beautiful and redeemable—no matter how broken it might seem.
“Margaret Renkl is a singular, spectacular writer.”—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Whistler
“Margaret Renkl is the most beautiful writer!”—Reese Witherspoon
“One of Renkl’s skills as a writer is to transfer her ability to perceive the nuances of the natural world, things most of us overlook, onto the page. . . . Paying attention to the living things in her backyard helps her cope with climate change, political strife and cultural upheaval—and she hopes it will help the reader, too.”—The New York Times
“Reading Margaret Renkl always connects me more deeply to the natural world and to my own heart.”—Dani Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Inheritance
“Renkl’s deft juxtapositions close up the gap between humans and nonhumans and revive our lost kinship with other living things.”—Richard Powers, New York Times bestselling author of The Overstory
“Whether describing bluebird nests or her own empty one, Renkl is part poetic prophet, part your down-home friend. . . . ‘The world is full of song,’ she writes—wake up and listen!”—People
“I am a big fan of good nature writing, and Renkl is among the best at it. I’m still marveling at the way she rhapsodizes over a toad, describing it as being ‘as soft as a great-grandmother you can hold in your hand.’”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“I am certain Margaret Renkl’s enchanting voice will echo for lifetimes to come.”—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, New York Times bestselling author of World of Wonders
“Margaret Renkl has the mind of a naturalist and the soul of a poet.”—Mary Laura Philpott, author of Bomb Shelter
“Renkl’s voice sounds very close to the reader’s ear: intimate, confiding, candid and alert.”—Shelf Awareness