A reviewer for Oblong Books wrote “Pull on your boots and take a walk with Cynthia McVay and her dogs — consummate hosts and guides — in a riveting landscape rife with adventure and discovery. In A Field of My Own: A Memoir of Place, lifelong environmentalist McVay chronicles her intimate, two-decade relationship with a flagging orchard in the Hudson Valley. As a single working mother, she was looking for a weekend escape from New York City, a piece of green, a place to call her own. One blustery winter day, she falls in love with a meadow and her life is forever altered. She renovates the modest cottage, builds a pondish-pool, creates pollinating, native gardens from orphans and strays, learns to forage, and runs the tractor. A decade in, as architect and general contractor, she moves an enormous 180-year-old hand-hewn Amish barn to the property to make her sustainable home. Snarky contractors, a tippling partner, puzzling neighbors, concerning caretakers, black rat snakes, and coyote chases are minor setbacks; each day brings joy and serenity. This engaging memoir of place is generous and honest, packed with useful know-how and humor.”