Honno signs Anne Keer’s ‘pitch-perfect’ eco historical debut The Wildness.

As the Enlightenment dawns, Hannah Sentance finds herself increasingly disturbed by her husband Walter’s unyielding desire to transform the land around their estate into an elite Gentleman’s Park. Local people will be evicted, an old way of life lost and an ancient oak tree felled. A symbol of resistance, wildness and a young woman’s love affair with nature, the tree embodies Hannah’s struggle for a way of belonging. But how can she – and it – survive?

‘I am so thrilled that we have signed The Wildness; a remarkably unique novel which asks what it takes to resist – and to rewild – in a world shaped by control.’  Dr Gemma June Howell, editor of The Wildness.

Advance praise for Anne Keer’s The Wildness:

‘The Wildness renders a pivotal time in history when two world views are on a collision course… She brings the living world alive on the page… This is a spellbinding read.’
Jay Griffiths.

‘A fascinating and beautifully written novel: a pitch-perfect historical voice and gendered perceptions interwoven with the felt reality of nature, and behind it deep insight into the fashionably entitled remaking of the English landscape. Brilliant.’
Ruth Padel

‘An authentic, emotive and utterly enchanting read.’
Hazel Prior

‘The Wildness is wonderful. A slow-burn revelation. Let it wrap its tendrils around you.’
Sir Jonathon Porritt

‘A beautifully written nature fable for our time. Haunting and relevant.’
Hannah Bourne-Taylor


Anne Keer lives on a hill in rural mid Wales where nature and the land have given shape to her ideas about the natural world. Previously she worked as a journalist in the Middle East, then in television documentary and drama for the BBC and Channel Four. Anne read History at Oxford and has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing from Aberystwyth University. She runs a small creative writing class and tries to give nature a bit of space on the land she and her partner look after.

The Wildness will publish 28 May 2026.