An "inspiring" (Time Out) book full of sweat, swearing, bashed thumbs and a deep sense of finding real meaning in work and life.

While working at a Boston newspaper, Nina MacLaughlin applied for a job as a carpenter's assistant. In Hammer Head she tells the story of becoming a carpenter-the joys and frustrations of making things by hand; the challenges she faced as a woman in an occupation that is 99 per cent male-and how manual labour changed the way she sees the world.