“Ravishing… as if Saavedra were a modern-day Borges.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, O, The Oprah Magazine A novel of dark obsession, missed connections, and violent love. Marcos has just been through a divorce and moved into a new apartment. He feels alienated from his ex-wife, from his daughter, from society; everything feels flat and fake to him. He begins to receive letters at his new address from an anonymous troubled woman who signs off as A. and who clearly believes she is writing to the former tenant, her ex-lover, in the aftermath of a violent heartbreak. Marcos falls under the spell of the manic, hypnotic missives and for the first time in years, something moves him. Blue Flowers alternates between the letters detailing the dissolution of A.'s relationship, and Marcos' growing fixation with this damaged person. The letters become a kind of exorcism as both A.'s epistolary affair and Marcos' personal life reach a crisis point. Possessed by A., he is driven to discover her true identity. Blue Flowers is a dark portrait of desire, undermining accepted truths about love and sex, violence and fear, men and women.

Only a pataphysician nurtured lovingly on surrealist excess could have come up with The Blue Flowers, Queneau's 1964 novel. At his death in 1976, Raymond Queneau was one of France's most eminent men of letters––novelist, poet, essayist, editor, scientist, mathematician, and, more to the point, pataphysician. And only a pataphysician nurtured lovingly on surrealist excess could have come up with The Blue Flowers, Queneau's 1964 novel, now reissued as a New Directions Paperbook. To a pataphysician all things are equal, there is no improvement or progress in the human condition, and a "message" is an invention of the benighted reader, certainly not the author or his perplexing creations––the sweet, fennel-drinking Cidrolin and the rampaging Duke d'Auge. History is mostly what the duke rampages through––700 years of it at 175-year clips. He refuses to crusade, clobbers his king with the "in" toy of 1439––the cannon––dabbles in alchemy, and decides that those musty caves down at Altamira need a bit of sprucing up. Meanwhile, Cidrolin in the 1960s lolls on his barge moored along the Seine, sips essence of fennel, and ineffectually tries to catch the graffitist who nightly defiles his fence. But mostly he naps. Is it just a coincidence that the duke appears only when Cidrolin is dozing? And vice versa? In the tradition of Villon and Céline, Queneau attempted to bring the language of the French streets into common literary usage, and his mad word-plays, bad puns, bawdy jokes, and anachronistic wackiness have been kept amazingly and glitteringly intact by the incomparable translator Barbara Wright.

Penelope Fitzgerald, who died in 2000, emerged late in life as one of the most remarkable English writers of the last century. She began her writing career in 1975 at the age of fifty-nine, and over the next two decades she published three biographies, nine novels, and a collection of short stories. Now three of her acclaimed novels are gathered here in one volume. The Bookshop is a postwar tragicomedy of manners, set in an isolated seaside town where an enterprising woman opens a bookstore only to find it beset by poltergeists, weather, and hostile townsfolk. The Gate of Angels is an Edwardian romance within a novel of ideas: a young doctor devoted to science and to his all-male Cambridge college finds his life and views disrupted by a nurse named Daisy. The Blue Flower, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, revitalizes historical drama through the story of Novalis, an eighteenth-century German romantic poet and visionary genius, and his unlikely love affair with a simple child-woman. These three novels all display Fitzgerald’s characteristic wit, intellectual breadth, and narrative brilliance, applied to an array of traditional forms into which she breathed new life.

"The Land of the Blue Flower" – Amor is a young orphaned king who, advised by a wise old man, leaves his dark and gloomy kingdom. He returns with the seeds of blue flower which turns out to be magical. "The Story of Prince Fairyfoot' is the tale of a young prince who represents an embarrassment for his large footed royal family. He leaves the royal castle, and walks off to live with the family of a sheepherder, destined to find happiness. "The Proud Little Grain of Wheat" is the tale that follows the adventures and escapades of a single grain from the time it gets planted into the ground to the time she gets consumed. This grain is extremely proud of itself, wanting to be the best at being seed, flower or a cake. "In the Closed Room" – Judith is a beautiful young girl who resembles her Aunt Hester who died at fifteen. Her parents become caretakers of a house that was abandoned quickly by a family grieving the sudden death of their child. In the closed room of the spooky house Judith meets a new friend.

Embark on a poetic and reflective journey with Henry Van Dyke’s The Blue Flower, a collection of short stories and essays that explores the beauty of life’s fleeting moments and the pursuit of deeper meaning. This timeless work invites readers to pause, reflect, and appreciate the subtle wonders of the world around them. As Van Dyke’s prose unfolds, you’ll be transported into a world where each story serves as a meditation on life, love, and the human spirit. The collection beautifully captures the essence of the search for “the blue flower,” a symbol of idealistic aspiration and the quest for spiritual fulfillment. But here’s a thought to ponder: How do the seemingly ordinary moments in life reveal the extraordinary? Can the pursuit of an elusive ideal lead to a deeper understanding of oneself? Explore the serene and introspective world of The Blue Flower, where each tale encourages a thoughtful examination of life’s joys and challenges. This is more than just a collection of stories; it’s an invitation to find the beauty in the everyday and the profound in the simple. Are you ready to discover the quiet wisdom of The Blue Flower? Engage with this thoughtful collection and uncover the timeless truths that resonate within each story. Don’t miss the chance to experience this classic work. Purchase The Blue Flower today and begin a journey of reflection and inspiration.

John Weathers's 1911 work is detailed discussion of bulbous plants from all over the world.

A comprehensive book that organizes plants and flowers by their growing attributes and answers thousands of gardening questions.

Reproduction of the original: The Book of Bulbs by S. Arnott

Each section of Flowers in Medieval Manuscripts includes relevant details of the manuscripts from which the illustrations are taken, and the concluding section discusses manuscript production in relation to these margins.