Synopsis
'Tender, connected and considered' - Chris Packham
'Luminous' - Freya Bromley
'Extraordinary' - Dr Amir Kahn
'Uplifting, defiant, galvanising' - Sophie Pavelle
Nature makes us feel things. It sparks awe, curiosity and a sense of beauty and community. But as wildlife around us declines and disappears, murkier feelings rise up: guilt, detachment and fear for nature's plight. For many years, Lucy Lapwing wrestled with these tangled emotions. So, in an attempt to make sense of this dance between joy and grief, she decided to go on a journey.
In Love Is a Toad, Lucy traverses meadows, bogs and hedgerows with her fellow nature enthusiasts, where she digs down into our relationship with the natural world. Over the course of a year, she meets bucketfuls of wildlife - Blackbird and Oak, slugs and puffballs, waterlilies, Dung Beetles and toads - as she roams across the UK.
From a river swim to wanders through woodlands, with every journey, Lucy explores how nature makes us feel, from wild grief and anger through to soaring joy and indefatigable hope. At once a celebration and an invitation to reflect, Love Is a Toad prods and pokes at our connection to the natural world, exploring its complexity in all its muddiness, messiness and wonder.
'Luminous' - Freya Bromley
'Extraordinary' - Dr Amir Kahn
'Uplifting, defiant, galvanising' - Sophie Pavelle
Nature makes us feel things. It sparks awe, curiosity and a sense of beauty and community. But as wildlife around us declines and disappears, murkier feelings rise up: guilt, detachment and fear for nature's plight. For many years, Lucy Lapwing wrestled with these tangled emotions. So, in an attempt to make sense of this dance between joy and grief, she decided to go on a journey.
In Love Is a Toad, Lucy traverses meadows, bogs and hedgerows with her fellow nature enthusiasts, where she digs down into our relationship with the natural world. Over the course of a year, she meets bucketfuls of wildlife - Blackbird and Oak, slugs and puffballs, waterlilies, Dung Beetles and toads - as she roams across the UK.
From a river swim to wanders through woodlands, with every journey, Lucy explores how nature makes us feel, from wild grief and anger through to soaring joy and indefatigable hope. At once a celebration and an invitation to reflect, Love Is a Toad prods and pokes at our connection to the natural world, exploring its complexity in all its muddiness, messiness and wonder.
Details
12 March 2026
9781785120145Imprint: Blink Publishing
Reviews
'Tender, connected and considered, but also brilliant, bold and brave. Lucy bares her truths, and ours, as she stands up for nature'
Lucy Lapwing writes about nature the way we actually experience it - messy, moving, funny and deeply human. Love Is a Toad captures the feelings of being outdoors in a way I've rarely read before. It made me slow down, look closer, and feel more. Lucy has an extraordinary gift for turning small encounters into moments of wonder.
Uplifting, defiant, galvanising. If anyone can help us see the world as one living, imperfect, astonishing being to hold close it's Lucy and her glorious Love is a Toad.
A sweet champagne of a book, Love is a Toad is effervescent with love and wonder for the living world. Lapwing welcomes in her readers with prose that conveys the science of her subjects with a seriousness balanced with fun, and leaves us knowing we can all make a difference - and that we must
