The White Birch

A natural-political exploration of Russian relationships with the birch tree across past, present, and future. Moving from the Tsarina’s garden to the Soviet Gulag, from Chernobyl to Lake Baikal, The White Birch is elegant and intrepid, like its subject – Daisy Hildyard, author of The Second Body and Hunters in the Snow‘Genuinely revelatory’ – Sophy Richards * TLS *There could be no better guide through the thickets of meaning, history and imagery that entangle with the birch tree than figurative forester Tom Jeffreys – Melissa McCarthy, author of Sharks Death SurfersA beautiful and profound meditation on the way landscape shapes art and life. I was entranced by The White Birch, a book that comes close to encapsulating the vast enigma of Russia in the form of a single tree – Alex Preston, author of Winchelsea and As Kingfishers Catch FireI love this book. Jeffreys admits he doesn’t know where he’s going at every turn, but trusts his instinct - and his ear for a good story - as he tries to untangle myth from fact … This is the great joy of The White Birch – Mark Hooper * Caught by the River *

Tom Jeffreys is a writer and critic with a particular interest in art that engages with environmental questions. His writing has appeared in publications including ArtReview, Frieze, the Independent, Monocle, New Scientist and The World of Interiors. He is the author of Signal Failure: London to Birmingham, HS2 on foot (Influx Press, 2017) and editor of online magazine The Learned Pig. He lives in Edinburgh and is obsessed with cricket.

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