Major news! My "unflinching" debut is being published!
Introducing HER BODY, OUR CHOICE
I am over the moon to tell you all that my debut book is being published!
HER BODY, OUR CHOICE exposes the roots of violence against women in our violation of the earth, arguing that women will not be free from violence until Earth herself is liberated from patriarchal violence.
The book was snapped up by legendary feminist publisher, Virago, which houses authors like Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, and Ann Carson. They are a dream home for this book which weaves everything I’ve learned about why the world is in crisis over the four years of doing Planet: Critical with another major crisis: violence against women.
Virago said: “In this unflinching polemic, Rachel Donald exposes the patriarchal roots of our entitled attitude towards the planet, and the deep links between environmental devastation and violence against women. The exploitation of female bodies mirrors ruthless extraction from the earth, and our resistance to both must go hand in hand.
“Urgent, necessary, and impossible to turn away from, this book is both a revelation and a call to action.”
For those of you who have been on this journey with me for a while, you’ll know I took myself off to a small island last summer to bury myself in writing a book. That self-imposed one month retreat, which saw me write 30,000 words of the first few chapters as I wrestled with the argument, came after 12 months of research into violence, a furious obsession triggered by an encounter with the President Emmanuel Macron in Papua New Guinea.
Following my body as an instrument of research, knowledge and memory, I focussed my research on violence against women. And it was hard. During the time I spent living in Athens, I would often go to a local cafe-bookstore to read and write. One of the waitresses put her hand lightly on my shoulder one day and asked me gently why I was crying. When I told her what I was researching, she squeezed my shoulder hard, as if to anchor my own body to hers while my mind ventured forth into all-too imaginable horrors.
“The arguments in this book could not be more timely, thought-provoking and rousing.”
In the months I spent at that cafe, I waded through data that made my stomach turn. But I began to find connections, strands of web invisible unless you took the time gaze and allow them to come into focus. In different papers, essays, data mines, books, a truth winked from the pages: there is a material connection between violence against women and violence against the earth.
What began as an esoteric investigation morphed into something urgent. It felt — and still feels — like I had uncovered something galvanising, something which could join the environmental and feminist movements at their very core, and provide a bridge to understand the planetary crisis intimately, intuitively and immediately.
, founder of literary agency Bergstrom Studio, agreed. I’d heard of Abigail as a pioneer in publishing, another young woman pushing the boundaries of what is possible. So, in the manner of the 21st century, I DM’d her. Before our first zoom call had ended, she was all in on those book and has been its North Star over the four months it took to write and refine this proposal.
It was quickly bought by editor Anna Kelly at Virago who “pre-empted” an offer to stop other publishers from making one. She said: “The arguments in this book could not be more timely, thought-provoking and rousing and Rachel’s is exactly the sort of fierce, inspiring voice we need to listen to right now. I’m thrilled to bring this agenda-setting book to Virago, and we have big ambitions for it.”
It will also be translated into Spanish and published across the Spanish speaking world by Chilean-based Tendencias! A German publisher is interested in translating it, too, and I sincerely hope to accept an offer from a French publisher after spending a formative three years there.
HER BODY, OUR CHOICE is deeply intimate and it’s been a difficult write. I provide a new definition of violence, one borne from examining personal experiences of violence which I never imagined would be in the public domain. With everything I learned, it seemed so important to find the global in the personal, to show that we can feel what is happening to Earth’s body in our own flesh. I feel honoured to be in a position to tell those stories and make those connections, built on four years of interviews and research. This book brings the planetary crisis home to our bodies, and provides a framework for us to feel — and heal — together.
It will be out in March 2027. Sunil Amrith, guest on the episode Language and Violence, has invited me to present the book at Yale University once it’s published. If you’d like me to do the same at your university or event, please get in touch at info@planetcritical.com.
Thank you again to this amazing community who support this investigation into why the world is in crisis. I will endeavour to continue being of service and value as the years go on, and believe HER BODY, OUR CHOICE is one of many books to come.
With kindness,
Rachel
Well done Rachel, and a thousand thanks for this work. I cannot think of a more necessary message for our troubled times. Patriarchal violence to the earth and to women is the root of so much of this evil mess. I am so excited to hear of this book being birthed into the world!
Huge congratulations! Can’t wait to read it!