One summer, Ellie Evelyn Orrell reunited with her mother following the death of their respective grandfather and father. They returned to the small village of Betws Gwerful Goch in North Wales. Ellie returned from studying at university, while Jeanette, had been studying the art of indigo dyeing in Japan. An Indigo Summer invites readers into their hillside garden as these two women grieve through art. Orrell draws on the history of indigo dyeing as she reflects on art, the Welsh landscape, and the strangeness of once-familiar places. Lyrical and moving, these stories include some of the illustrations created that summer, inspired by Welsh natural beauty.