Fiona Stafford

There are endless odes to trees. We continue to stumble onto their attributes and how they can provide for us in new ways. From David Harris’ horrifying The Last Stand, to Stefano Mancuso’s stunning Brilliant Green, I devour the information we pick up. I appreciate total respect for trees. Fiona Stafford continues the tradition, adding historical, literary and mythical aspects to a selection of 17 trees found in England, including her own experience with them. It is a delight.

There is show more often great respect for trees in the UK. In England, great old trees have their own names. They are locations, milestones, boundary references and above all, meeting places. Churches and halls were built at those tree meeting places, the natural place for them. English yews can easily be 2500 years old, oaks 1000. They are long-lived, dependable landmarks in addition to all their other gifts.

In The Long Long Life of Trees, we learn not only their lifespans (30 years for apple, 3000 for yews), but what uses their wood is, what chemical compounds we make from their fruit, their sap or their bark, and how history and literature have treated them (badly for the willow, royally for the oak). It took 2000 oaks to make a warship. Holly trees date from the Cretaceous. Apples came from Kazakhstan, willows from China. Elms and horse chestnuts - museum pieces unfortunately.

The book suffers from one thing – images. There are lots of black and white etchings and woodcuts, far more artistic than informative, and I found it impossible to read the book without an internet search engine handy. Stafford goes to great lengths describing famous trees in various locales, but usually doesn’t show them, and when she does, it’s monochrome or grayscale. This is sinful. Trees with a circumference of 50 feet need to be seen if only to be believed. There’s no point describing glorious blossoms if all you’re going to show is a line drawing.

It is well researched, and the passion shows on every page. The Long Long Life of Trees is a valued addition to the shelf.

David Wineberg show less

If you love trees, this is an interesting book that brings together science, literature, folklore and other information about a variety of trees. They are all species that are well known in the UK, but the author also talks about species in the same genus that grow in other countries. I especially enjoyed the author's knowledge of trees in literature (she is a Professor of Literature) and the way she weaves quotes from novels, plays and poems into the narrative. I learnt a few things about show more the scientific and medical uses of trees, and the etymology of placenames, too. My favourite chapter was the final one, about apple trees. I love the older, sharper varieties of British apples and the author had interesting things to say about changes in taste and the need to preserve heritage varieties. The book is beautifully illustrated with reproductions of woodcuts, engravings, photographs, paintings and pencil sketches. show less

A lovely book linking history, folklore, science and nature writing, both in prose and poetry. Beautifully illustrated with woodcuts and other black and white illustrations. I was fascinated in particular by the old rituals she described as linked to trees, from beliefs about healing to annual parades. Particularly British trees - would love to read an international sequel.

Received via Abili and NetGalley in exchange for an completely unbiased review.
Also posted on Silk & Serif

The Long, Long Life of Trees was not at all what I expected. I wanted a novel that would cover the historical, cultural and mythological history of trees in a way that would encompass a large variety of trees. The hope was that I would glean information that would make me a hit at parties and give me knowledge about a subject that would be fun to pull out while chatting in the office” show more “Did you know that the Holly Tree was..?” Unfortunately, The Long, Long Life of Trees was not THAT kind of book and admittedly soured my experience. This novel is all about artistic history of trees: poems, art, literature – it is also about the spiritual and religious connection humans have with trees.

The best part of this novel is the introduction where the author describes trees in a beautiful and lyrical way that honestly took my breath away. The language was strong and emotive. I loved trees for awhile in the way that the author loves them and felt deep wonder at the mysteries that are trees. She developed a narrative that brought the mystical nature of trees to the fore front, while condemning the destruction of forests in a powerful way. If only the book continued on this same vein..

I struggled through this novel because I care very little for art, carving uses and religious imagery curated from various types of trees. I have always had more of a desire to learn the societal and human elements behind nature and unfortunately even the literature component of this novel touched on aspects that, sadly, I could not begin to feel passionate about. I did not learn any neat facts to pull out at dinner parties and I certainly did not enjoy the dry, plodding narrative that followed the inspiring Introductory chapter.

The illustrations, although a wonderful idea, were largely wonderfully hand drawn samples, but I would have very much liked to have had images of fully trees in nature in addition to the author created. I have not seen some of these trees in person as this is a mostly British and European focused work, and would have liked to have a shot of the trees being explored.

Warning: Here There Be Empirical Facts, Mate!

Finally, I think the synopsis was misleading in utilizing words like “inspiring” and “imitate”. The Long, Long Life of Trees is an encyclopedia of trees: practical uses, poetic mentions, religious relevance and their prevalence in famous artwork. This is not a novel about the intimate or inspiring relationship with human mythos and cultural influence, but one of facts. Sadly, this book feels like it was marketed to readers of a different interest, or at least I was expected something different. The Long, Long Life of Trees is not a terrible book, it’s just mislabeled.

This book will appeal to readers who are looking for an empirical, encyclopedic book on trees, are interested in art, poetry and religious relevance of natural phenomenon and are able to read individual entries about European trees written like a textbook rather than through creative and emotional language. show less