‘Beautifully written, funny and informative, this really is the first book to make compost seem sumptuous and sexy.’ - MARY MOODY

Everything that lives must die. Everything decays. Life springs from death. These are the lessons at the heart of things, and at the heart of the compost heap. All of which would be almost too profound were it not for the fact that compost (like life and death) is also profoundly funny, earthy, at times revolting, often unexpectedly sweet, and always resistant to glorification.

Margaret Simons unearths stories about who we are, where we are in our history, our relationships to the earth and to each other, and the direction in which we might be headed - all through an examination of the humble compost heap.