This New York Times Notable memoir of a middle-class, middle-America family is a “beautiful bouquet of a book” (Entertainment Weekly). They say “a daughter is a daughter all her life,” and no statement could be truer for Patricia Hampl. Born to a Czech father—an artistic florist—and a wary Irish mother, Hampl experienced a childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, that couldn’t have been more normal, the perfect example of a twentieth century middle-class, middle-American upbringing. But as she faces the death of her mother, Hampl reflects on the struggles her parents went through to provide that normal, boring existence, and her own struggles with fulfilling the role of dutiful daughter as she grew through the postwar years to the turbulent sixties and couldn’t help wanting to rebel against the notion of a “relentlessly modest life.” Named a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, The Florist’s Daughter is Hampl’s most extraordinary work to date—a “quietly stunning” reminiscence of a Midwestern girlhood, and a reflection on what it means to be a daughter (People).

A wealth of inspirational arrangements for many indoor settings and special occasions.

A charming, uplifting debut novel—full of humor and depth—that has taken readers around the world by surprise. Everyone has a story to tell. But does Janice have the power to unlock her own? She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they had always done so, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her ... Cleaner Janice knows that it is in people’s stories that you really get to know them. From recently widowed Fiona and her son Adam to opera-singing Geordie, the quiet bus driver Euan, and the pretentious Mrs. “YeahYeahYeah” and her fox terrier, Decius, Janice has a unique insight into the community around her. When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs. B—a shrewd and prickly woman in her nineties—she finally meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share. Mrs. B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?

From florist and founder of Tin Can Studios Ingrid Carozzi, a guide to creating floral arrangements that will complement your unique style and taste Flowers are classic, timeless design elements that enliven your home and your life. Flower arrangements can act as an extension of your style and your tastes, complementing and accenting the aesthetic in your home. Ingrid Carozzi brought us beautiful arrangements in her first book, Handpicked, and is now offering even more tips and techniques to bring the joy of flowers into your space in new and fresh ways. Flowers by Design focuses on creating unique and beautiful floral arrangements that fit into and complement the overall look and feel of your home. More minimal tastes? There's a floral bouquet for that. Rustic chic? There's an arrangement for that. Planning an outdoor garden party? Of course, there are plenty of beautiful flowers to enhance the outdoors. Through her experience, Carozzi has developed an exceptional list of designers, influencers, and artists that she works with. Using their backgrounds and homes as inspiration, she provides a number of floral recipes that you can create at home. The contributors utilize their own spaces as the setting for seeing these arrangements in place, offering plenty of ideas for what you can do on your own.

These meditations inspired by a Matisse painting are “a paean to the act of seeing, celebrating our capacity to be transformed by the truths art holds.” —The New York Times Book Review Named a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year and a Los Angeles Times Favorite Nonfiction of the Year Just out of college, Patricia Hampl was mesmerized by a Matisse painting in the Art Institute of Chicago: an aloof woman gazing at goldfish in a bowl, a Moroccan screen behind her. In Blue Arabesque, Hampl explores the allure of this lounging woman, immersed in leisure, so at odds with the rush of the modern era. Hampl’s meditation takes us to the Cote d’Azur and to North Africa, from cloister to harem, pondering figures as diverse as Eugene Delacroix, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Katherine Mansfield. Returning always to Matisse’s portraits of languid women, she discovers they were not decorative indulgences but something much more. Moving with the life force that Matisse sought in his work, Blue Arabesque is Hampl’s dazzling and critically acclaimed tour de force.

This book contains top tips for flower care and arranging, facts and tips for 12 of the bestselling flowers, secrets from 12 top English florists and seasonal hints to make the most of Christmas flowers.