"Into My Arms"
- Estelle Clarke
- Jan 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 18
Inspired by a true story.
A feel-good novella to enjoy in a cafe with coffee and cake or in the bath. Or with coffee and cake in the bath. Why not? Published by Road Song Books on 25 February 2026.
Salisbury Journal Review March 12 2026
Pre-release comments on Into My Arms
“An amazing tour-de-force – a moving story…”
Tim Craven, founder of The Arborealists, curator and artist
“In order to save nature, we must re-enchant it. Estelle Phillips does just this with Into My Arms. Her writing harks back to a time when nature hummed and thrummed with a vibrancy and a magic that we struggle to fathom these days…”
Ben Goldsmith, Rewilding the World podcast and writer of God is an Octopus
“A lovely collection of prose reaching into the timeless countryside that once was so ubiquitous in England”
Derek Gow, author of Bringing Back the Beaver and Hunt For the Shadow Wolf
“sophisticated and elegant storytelling; a compassionate act of imagination that shows us no life is ordinary, all lives are myths”
Barney Norris, Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plain and Undercurrent
“Never before have I seen nature and words so perfectly blended. Estelle has created a vision in the reader’s mind. Taking them by the hand, walking them through beautifully crafted storytelling full of myths, legends and folklore tinged with reality, fused together seamlessly...”
Nat Wood Fox, writer and screenwriter
“A lyrical evocation of the inner life of trees and their relationship with one family through times of love, loss and wonder...”
Angela McAllister, author of An Ocean Full of Stories
“Estelle Phillips’ vision is deep and poetic...”
Paul Wood, writer of Tree Hunting
“Into My Arms is a startling portal into Estelle Phillips’ daring imagination, a formally inventive freefall into myth and possibility wherein the story of a man in a glider dropping from the sky interweaves with visions of a translucent horse, wise trees, mourning widows and the graveyard voices of the deceased, recalling perhaps the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’, Alice Oswald’s ‘Dart’, George Saunders’ ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ and the Mabinogion. But you can’t pin it down, it’s its own strange thing and it’s told with breathtaking audacity. Another triumph for the small yet mighty Road Song Books...”
Jeff Young, 2025 TLS Ackerley Prize winner for Wild Twin
“Something deliciously wicked this way comes. Estelle Phillips’ Into My Arms is a staggering achievement. Fearless writing to shout about……”
Mark McDonald, The Observer
“A poetic scrapbook of cuttings and family history. Dramatic exchanges, newspaper cuttings, sentient trees, and ancient connections. The dialogue between past and present, plant and planet, down the years. Ghostly figures, tricksy thermals and powerless falling from unpowered flight. A miracle, a promise long kept...”
David Gladwin, author of Coldwell
“Why trees matter, hidden histories, and memories of the natural world. Reflective, mysterious and intriguing...”
Mark Wigan, artist and writer of Drawing the Night
“Into My Arms exists beyond the frontiers of modern fiction writing. This ethereal gathering of countryside tales enthralls at every turn. Simply beautiful…”
Alan Edward Roberts, author of Gentle November and Cerberus
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