Feral Borough

Set in the urban pastoral of an East London postcode, Feral Borough asks what it means to call a place home, and how best to share that home with its non-human inhabitants. Meryl Pugh reimagines the wild as ‘feral’, recording the fauna and flora of Leytonstone in prose as incisive as it is lyrical. Here, on the edge of the city, red kite and parakeets thrive alongside bluebell and yarrow, a muntjac deer is glimpsed in the undergrowth, and an escaped boa constrictor appears on the High Road. In this subtle, captivating book – part herbarium, part bestiary and part memoir – Pugh explores the effects of loss, and lockdown, on human well-being, conjuring the local urban environment as a site for healing and connection.

‘A subtle, heartfelt and affecting book about home, the city and the self — Pugh reminds us that nowhere, however urban, is without nature; that wherever we go, the intricate web of life continues to shape and change us.’ Rebecca Tamas

Author Biography

Meryl Pugh grew up in Wales, New Zealand, East Anglia and the Forest of Dean, but has lived in London for 26 years. She has a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing from UEA and – having previously worked in schools, museums and libraries – now teaches creative writing and poetry for Morley College. Her debut poetry collection Natural Phenomena was published by Penned in the Margins in February 2018.