God Is an Octopus cover art

God Is an Octopus

Loss, Love and a Calling to Nature

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

God Is an Octopus

By: Ben Goldsmith
Narrated by: Simon Bubb
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents God Is An Octopus by Ben Goldsmith, read by Simon Bubb.

'Intensely readable, poetic, truthful, wise and wonderful.' STEPHEN FRY
'An extraordinary book.' SUNDAY TIMES

Struggling to comprehend the shocking death of his teenage daughter, Ben Goldsmith finds solace in nature by immersing himself in plans to rewild his farm.

In July 2019, Ben Goldsmith lost his fifteen-year-old daughter, Iris, in an accident on their family farm in Somerset. Iris’s death left her family reeling.

Grasping for answers, Ben threw himself into searching for some ongoing trace of his beloved child, exploring ideas that until then had seemed too abstract to mean much to him. Missing his daughter terribly and struggling to imagine how he would face the rest of his life in the shadow of this loss, Ben found solace in nature, the object of a lifelong fascination. As Ben set about rewilding his farm, nature became a vital source of meaning and hope.

This book is the story of a year of soul-searching that followed a terrible loss. In an instant, Ben’s world had turned dark. Yet, unbelievably to him, the seasons kept on turning, and as he immersed himself in the dramatic restoration of nature in the place where it happened, he found healing.

In God is an Octopus, Ben tells a powerful, immersive and inspiring story of finding comfort and strength in nature after suffering loss and despair.©2023 Ben Goldsmith (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Grief & Loss Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Science
All stars
Most relevant
I heard an interesting interview with Ben and figured that if his book was half as good as its title I would not be disappointed.

I wasn’t. This is a beautifully told story about grief and how the author finds solace in nature, transforming his life and honouring his daughter by rewilding his UK farm.

I listened to this book some weeks ago now and its beauty has stayed with me, as did the urgency and enthusiasm to rewild my own small spot on the planet. I discovered that Ben has a podcast on rewilding and I highly recommend both this book and that podcast.

‘God is an Octopus’ is an easy and illuminating read/listen that invites those lucky enough to engage with it to consider the bigger questions of life and our connection to the vast richness of the natural world. You won’t regret this listen.

Grief and nature changed his life. His book may change yours.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely loved this stunning story. Thank you Ben for sharing ❤️ I adored it so much

Beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Written with such sincerity and love. There was so much interesting and moving in this book. I will keep it around for reference and I hope it has some influence over the world’s direction with nature.

The immense sincerity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.