Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life

Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life - Paperback

$19.95
$19.95
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Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life
  • Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life
  • Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life
Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life - Paperback

Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life - Paperback

$19.95
$19.95

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by Brian Brett (Author), Kate Harris (Foreword by)


A Times Literary Supplement and Globe and Mail Book of the Year

Winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Canadian Non-Fiction Prize

"A wonderful meditation on farm life and by extension life itself ... told intelligently and often humorously, by a writer with a welcome fresh sharp eye."--Peter Matthiessen, author of Shadow Country and The Snow Leopard

In this new special edition of a beloved rural memoir, a farmer's intimate bond with his land and animals reveals hard-won truths about trauma, endurance, and belonging.

From the straining of muscles at dawn chores to the last check of the animals under a darkening sky, Brian Brett brings readers along as he moves through a day on his farm, tending to animals, soil, and machinery while reckoning with the quiet weight of trauma that saturates the land.

Both an unflinching memoir and an irreverent natural history of the small mixed farm, Trauma Farm wanders backward and forward in time, from childhood chores to present scars, from ancient Babylonian planting cycles to the pressures of globalization. Brett lingers on the feel of earth in his hands, the steam of breath from cattle in winter, the small decisions that mean life or death for vulnerable creatures. Along the way, Brett reflects on the costs of such a life--the scars etched into bodies, the grief carried for animals and people lost, and the fierce bonds that hold a rural community together.

Meditating on the nature of care, the ethics of killing, the strange tenderness of routine, and the cycles of planting, harvest, and decay, the book balances raw realism with lyrical wonder. It offers a fierce critique of romanticized visions of the countryside while celebrating the miracles of birth, weather, and endurance that confront the farm every day.

Passionate, practical, and frequently hilarious, this is an unforgettable portrait of one farm and the people and animals who live there. Trauma Farm is a powerful reminder of our entanglement with the natural world, and of the quiet heroism required simply to go on.

Author Biography


Brian Brett (1950-2023) was a celebrated poet, novelist, and memoirist whose lyrical work championed nature, humanity, and rural life. In recognition of his lifetime contribution to Canadian literature, he was honored in 2016 with the Writer's Trust Matt Cohen Award. His tender, rebellious, and deeply observant voice continues to resonate long after his passing.

Kate Harris is the award-winning author of Lands of Lost Borders. Her essays, poetry, and cold takes have been featured in Granta, The Georgia Review, CutBank, Arc Poetry Magazine, Outside, and The Walrus, among other publications. Kate lives off-grid in a log cabin in northernmost British Columbia with her partner and dog.

Number of Pages: 384
Dimensions: 1.2 x 8.4 x 5.5 IN
Publication Date: September 15, 2026

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