Modern Nature: Journals, 1989 – 1990

Absolutely love this book, finished whilst on a wet camping trip in the Pyrenees. The sense of place when he talks of his isolated & wind-swept sea-side home on the shingle at Dungeness, right next door to the nuclear power station & atmosphere, make one feel as though they are there breathing in the heady scent of his roses & herbs with the tang of salt on one's lips. Note to self, take a trip to Dungeness.

This is a lovely book and ties in well with his other writing about his garden. It's a series of random diary entries so easy to read a bit, put it down, and return to it. He has remarkable observation skills and it's interesting to hear how he developed his amazing garden in the inhospitable land at Dungeness. The diary ranges from daily activities to memories of his childhood, planting information and his diagnosis and progress with HIV/AIDS but it's never depressing.

A truly wonderful book to discover, newly reissued and with a new powerful forward. Anyone interested in Derek's life and / or LGBT history should buy this book. His anger at the way gay people were treated in the 1980s is empowering and something to behold.

Jarman was unique. Never afraid to voice an opinion, however outrageous. This is a moving diary of creating a magical garden in a harsh environment, with lots of wanderings into other territories. Should be read with his book on his garden.

Jarman was a brave and honest man in a world slowly but surely becoming less than the sum of its parts. He stood for art and intelligence before commerce and notoriety. He writes with great clarity and insight about what goes on in the larger world around him but pulls us into the creation of his unusual and startling garden with his ever inquiring mind, a broad and solid knowledge unusual in anyone today and his sure and vivid prose. He is a great loss.