To Hear the Trees Speak by Olivia Sprinkel

May 16, 2025

To Hear the Trees Speak

by Olivia Sprinkel

To Hear The Trees Speak by Olivia Sprinkel was published on 8th May 2025 by Bedford Square Publishers.

My thanks to the author and the publishers for sending me a copy to review and to

Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour

A poetically-written testimony of our own deep relationship with the natural world, and of nature’s own resilience.' Ben Goldsmith

Imagine if you could hear the trees speak. How would it change your life? Your relationship to the world around you? This is the story of what happened when the trees whispered me to quit my job, leave my life in New York and go on a journey to listen. It is the story of what I learnt from ten trees on five continents – and the lessons that the trees have for all of us on how to be in a rapidly changing world.

Olivia Sprinkel was sitting in her office in New York, an experienced international sustainability strategy and communications consultant, and as a newly single woman, she decided she had to make a change in her life and undertake a journey. To Hear the Trees Speak: Adventures in Listening is the story of her travels to Europe, North and South America, Australia, and South Asia, to discover ten of our world’s essential trees and their habitats. The ten trees range from the banyan and bodhi to the olive, giant sequoia and beech.

Powerfully crafted, this is important and accessible nature writing blended with insightful memoir.

My Thoughts

This is a moving , non fiction, account of the importance of trees in our world and how Olivia completely changed her life to learn about ten completely different trees on her journey through five continents.
It is told in a very straightforward and easy to read narrative that gives you so much opportunity to to learn about the different trees and their importance along with the danger they have faced , or are facing .
For me this is one of those books that awaken my curiosity to discover more about the subject I am reading about. Consequently I am currently researching more about the Baobab tree. a tree I previously knew very little about.
I haven't finished the book yet , mainly because, for me, it is one of those books to immerse yourself in chapter by chapter rather than rush through it in order to complete a review.
For me this is a sign of a good book that I want to enjoy and be inspired by for a long time and will become one of those books that has a forever place on my nature and mindfulness shelf.