Reading the Flowers

The natural world its minutiae, its vastness, its beauties, mysteries and paradoxes and how the human individual is observes it, reacts to it, confronts it, yet is always part of it, are what makes this collection such absorbing and stimulating reading. Linda France observes and comments on plant, animal and insect life from every angle, sometimes from a deeply personal perspective, sometimes as an observer, sometimes in the voice of plants themselves. Family history, childhood memories and vivid descriptions of the wonders of nature from around the world are shot through with a scintillating lexicon of plant names so that every poem gleams with a unique light.