Since its launch in 1998 in the UK by former Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Globe Theatre, World Book Day is now wildly celebrated each March, with plenty of additional initiatives being implemented to encourage children to read books.
As Japanese knotweed specialists, we are used to reading (and writing) books on the subject, but it’s fair to say that its reputation as one of the UK’s most feared, and hated plants means that knotweed finds itself featured in all sorts of unlikely places – particularly in literature. Back in 2020, we wrote about how Japanese knotweed had taken hold in the English lexicon, with politicians like Theresa May and Nigel Farage being compared to the plant.
So, with World Book Day on our minds, we thought this year, we would also encourage adults to read, by recommending a few books that pay homage to the infamous knotweed!
Without further ado, here’s our list:
*All images courtesy of goodreads.com
“Invasive Species” by Joseph Wallace
What’s this book about?
This science fiction novel explores the nefarious consequences of introducing invasive species and leaving them uncontrolled.
Where is the Japanese knotweed?
The title sums it up!
A quick summary from Amazon:
“There can only be one dominant life form on Earth. In the remote African wilderness, a rainforest is dying. But something else has come to A newly evolved predator that has survived the depredations of mankind, only to emerge from its natural habitat faster, stronger, and deadlier than anything humanity has ever faced. And it’s no longer man.”
Buy Invasive Species here.
“The Dig” by Cynan Jones
What’s this book about?
In his short novel, Cynan Jones explores the impact of nature on human lives through the story of a Farmer in deep rural Wales, stalked by a badger-baiter…
Where is the Japanese knotweed?
The plant is evoked by the author as a symbol of Mother Nature being a force not to be reckoned with.
A quick summary from Goodread.com:
“This is a searing short novel, built of the interlocking fates of a badger-baiter and a disconsolate farmer, unfolding in a stark rural setting where man, animal, land and weather are at loggerheads. Their two paths converge with tragic inevitability. Jones writes of the physiology of grief and the isolation of loss with brilliance, and about the simple rawness of animal existence with a naturalist’s unblinking eye. His is a pared-down prose of resonant simplicity and occasional lushness. His writing about ducks and dogs and cows is axe-sharp. There is not a whiff of the bucolic pastoral or the romanticized sod here. This is a real rural ride. It is short, but crackles with latent compressed energy that makes it swell to fill more space than at first glance it occupies.”
Buy The Dig here.
“The Overstory” by Richard Powers
What’s this book about?
Author Richard Powers was awarded the coveted Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for this novel! Through a myriad of characters, Powers discusses the complex relationship between Man and Nature, as well as many other themes which are relevant to us all.
Where is the Japanese knotweed?
In this very well-written book, Japanese knotweed is not only mentioned as a threat to North America’s biodiversity, but it is also used as a metaphor for the detrimental impact of human activity on Nature.
A quick summary from Goodreads.com:
“The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of – and paean to – the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.”
Buy The Overstory here.
“The Weed that strings the Hangman’s bag” by Alan Bradley
What’s this book about?
This book is part of the Flavia de Luce mystery series, where we follow 11-year-old amateur detective Flavia de Luce on some intriguing mysteries. These books are great for older children and adults alike!
Where is the Japanese knotweed?
In this excellent novel, Flavia de Luce comes across a patch of Japanese knotweed during a murder investigation. Could it be a useful clue to solve the mystery she’s been presented with?
A quick summary by Goodread.com:
“From Dagger Award-winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction’s most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders. This time, Flavia finds herself untangling two deaths—separated by time but linked by the unlikeliest of threads…”
Buy The weed that strings the Hangman’s bag here.
