Author: Kim Keum-hee
Translated by: Clare Richards
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, expected Feb 2027
Original title: 식물적 낙관, 2023
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Acclaimed writer Kim Keum Hee invites readers into her sun-soaked Seoul apartment, where the daily ritual of nurturing her many houseplants becomes a moving meditation on resilience, hope, and the evolving seasons of a life.
“Where there are roots, there is hope.”
Kim Keum Hee is a self-confessed and proud ‘plant parent’. She lives with her (human) husband and seventy-plus houseplants in her small apartment in Seoul. When life feels overwhelming, it’s her plants that keep her going. Her mood instantly improves when she watches the delicate leaves of her acacia dealbata finally flourish and she feels more hopeful when she discovers new roots on her dying ghost cactus.
Through summer, autumn, winter, and spring, Kim Keum Hee shares everyday observations about her family of houseplants and how they struggle and thrive through the shifting seasons. There are moments of deep profundity, and moments that will break your heart, but it’s hope and joy that lies at the heart of this book.
Written in beautiful, elegant prose by one of South Korea’s most acclaimed contemporary writers, this book is a life-affirming and personal exploration on growth and change, love and loss, and holding on and letting go.
Source: publisher’s website