WHITE BEECH The Rainforest Years

Australian feminist Germaine Greer bought 150 acres of abandoned rainforest in Queensland with a view to restoration and finding her heart's ease. Saskia Maarleveld is lively and engaging as she narrates Greer's search for a suitable property, often with her sensible sister, Jane, a botanist, in tow. Enticed by a rare regent bowerbird who dances for her, Greer invests her savings and embarks on the enormous task of ridding her property of exotic plants and replacing them with natives as well as undoing damage from the extensive use of agricultural chemicals. Maarleveld adeptly portrays Greer's outspokenness and hardline environmentalism. She maintains an enthusiastic tone even though the second half of the book is a thicket of exhaustive taxonomic description and overly detailed history that overwhelm the narrative. A.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2014]