What Epping Forest means to me now is very different to what it meant to me when I first thought of the book, as I wrote it, when it came out, and as it was in memory from childhood. Out of the Woods is especially affecting when Turner confronts the harmful impact of homophobic legislation on his childhood, his compulsive behaviour, and the way in which artists such as Derek Jarman and Suede offered him a new way of being as a young man.įirst of all, can you tell us about what Epping Forest means to you, and what drew you to write about it? Beginning as a conventional history of Epping Forest, Turner’s own relationship with that space deepens the text, as he explores the way in which he has been drawn to the forest during moments of personal crisis.

Luke Turner’s memoir Out of the Woods explores the author’s relationship with nature, religion, sexuality and childhood trauma.