A man moves into a dark, colorless town, and brings with him flowers and color that affect all of his neighbors.

Flowers are a hugely important part of Indian culture, used in everything from temple rituals to festivals and parties - and Malik Ghat flower market is the largest of its kind in India. Located in Calcutta, next to the Hooghly river, it attracts more than 2,000 sellers each day, who flock to peddle their blooms amid frantic scenes. After having visited Calcutta and its flower market for the first time, Danish photographer Ken Hermann decided to take portraits of the sellers, their magnificent garlands often appearing in stark contrast to their own dusty and sweat-soaked attire.

The Legend of the Flower Man is, first and foremost, a journey of initiation. The absence of suspense and the simple, but profound narrative aims at something more: to teach the little reader that events are not only made up of surfaces, but they also have a depth, which can be understood only though reflective thinking. Two of the main ideas in the text are: there are other truths than those which can be understood through the mind and, one cannot be truly happy in the absence of an authentic value system in which one can anchor one's being. This is an educational book, in character and also in structure. Each fragment of the story is accompanied by a complementary exercise page, which targets several aspects of personal development. Some exercises and games are aimed at the development of the rational mind, others at the emotional development of the child, others aim at the formation and appreciation of values and, yet, others - drops of silence - combine physical movement with relaxation techniques. This rather unusual mix, at first sight, is far from being accidental. The goal of this combination of exercises is, as specified in the afterword, to promote a cross-curricular approach to education. As de Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince taught his reader that one cannot see clearly except with one's heart, this work reminds us of the transformational power of love, the only force capable of placing humans back on the vertical axis of the values that forge their being: "Whether we are aware or not, we act in accordance to the values in which we believe. And there are values by which mankind had always measured its happiness. Balance, peace, love, forgiveness, generosity seem to be our second genetic code, an inbuilt program which whatever we are deeply depends on. Whatever we are and whatever we have do not shut out each other. But, by all means, there is a certain weave of what we are on which the beauty of our life and a feeling of complete fulfilment depend."

From Lewis Miller, the celebrated floral designer and "Flower Bandit" himself, an intimate and joyous behind-the-scenes look at his signature Flower Flashes as they introduced bright moments of natural beauty into the city when they were needed most. Before dawn one morning in October 2016, renowned New York-based floral designer Lewis Miller stealthily arranged hundreds of brightly colored dahlias, carnations, and mums into a psychedelic halo around the John Lennon memorial in Central Park. The spontaneous floral installation was Miller's gift to the city—an effort to spark joy during a difficult time. Nearly five years and more than ninety Flower Flashes later, these elaborate flower bombs—bursts of jubilant blooms in trash cans, over bus canopies, on construction sites and traffic medians—have brought moments of delight and wonder to countless New Yorkers and flower lovers everywhere, and earned Miller a following of dedicated fans and the nickname the "Flower Bandit." After New York City entered lockdown, Miller doubled down, creating Flower Flashes outside hospitals to express gratitude to frontline health workers and throughout the city to raise spirits. This gorgeous and poignant visual diary traces the phenomenon from the first, spontaneous Flower Flash to the even more profound installations of the pandemic through a kaleidoscopic collage of photos documenting the Flower Flashes, behind-the-scenes snapshots, Miller's inspiration material, fan contributions, and more.

As an art student in 1993, Michael De Feo drew a simple bloom that became a familiar and welcome presence in New York after he spent countless nights pasting hundreds of versions of it all over the city’s building walls. Twenty-five years later, these flowers have been sighted in more than 60 international cities. His street works took a new direction in 2015 when a guerrilla art collective provided him access to the cases that protect bus-shelter ads, enabling him to launch a beautiful campaign of his blossoms on top of fashion ads. His art has taken many forms, including a substantial body of studio work inspired by Dutch 17th-century paintings and another series which married floral themes with Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian portraiture. De Feo’s colorful and lively book reproduces more than 200 of his flower-inspired images and features commentary from a diverse group of people who have supported his often-clandestine work.

In 1837, while charting the Amazonian country of Guiana for Great Britain, German naturalist Robert Schomburgk discovered an astounding "vegetable wonder"--a huge water lily whose leaves were five or six feet across and whose flowers were dazzlingly white. In England, a horticultural nation with a mania for gardens and flowers, news of the discovery sparked a race to bring a live specimen back, and to bring it to bloom. In this extraordinary plant, named Victoria regia for the newly crowned queen, the flower-obsessed British had found their beau ideal. In The Flower of Empire, Tatiana Holway tells the story of this magnificent lily, revealing how it touched nearly every aspect of Victorian life, art, and culture. Holway's colorful narrative captures the sensation stirred by Victoria regia in England, particularly the intense race among prominent Britons to be the first to coax the flower to bloom. We meet the great botanists of the age, from the legendary Sir Joseph Banks, to Sir William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, to the extravagant flower collector the Duke of Devonshire. Perhaps most important was the Duke's remarkable gardener, Joseph Paxton, who rose from garden boy to knight, and whose design of a series of ever-more astonishing glass-houses--one, the Big Stove, had a footprint the size of Grand Central Station--culminated in his design of the architectural wonder of the age, the Crystal Palace. Fittingly, Paxton based his design on a glass-house he had recently built to house Victoria regia. Indeed, the natural ribbing of the lily's leaf inspired the pattern of girders supporting the massive iron-and-glass building. From alligator-laden jungle ponds to the heights of Victorian society, The Flower of Empire unfolds the marvelous odyssey of this wonder of nature in a revealing work of cultural history.

In the 1930s Dr Edward Bach found that restoring emotional balance to his patients drove out ill-health and unhappiness. Bach Flower Remedies for Men shows how his 38 flower-and-plant-based remedies apply to the particular emotional problems of men, and how a system that heals the whole person can win freedom from the pressure to conform and perform. Topics covered include bullying, falling in love, sexuality, job-hunting, redundancy and fatherhood, and specific problems from acne and hair loss to heart disease and prostate trouble are described in a practical, non-technical way. Bach Flower Remedies for Men is written with men in mind. But it will prove invaluable to therapists, healers, lovers, wives, sisters, daughters and mothers - anyone, in fact, who has a man's welfare at heart.

Tami has traveled long and far from his home in the south, forbidden to return until he has become a man, in this coming-of-age story. Defeating monsters and saving princesses has not been enough, and now he must find the fabled flower of the witch, but in his quest Tami inadvertently sparks a feud between the villagers who shelter him and the demon Yabra! And when the conflict comes to a head, Tami will have to choose between proving himself as a man, and protecting the villagers he's come to love. Available for the first time in English, Enrico Orlandi's exciting tale of adventure and compassion is a timely reflection on identity, responsibility, and the true meaning of maturity. "My intention when I created Tami and the world of Il fiore della strega, was to tell a fantastic story that would capture the reader's imagination and inspire them to lose themselves in the cold forests of the far north, to feel the icy gaze of the spirits and the warmth of the hearths in each tent. Tami's journey, his difficulties and mistakes, are in essence what every child must face as they grow into adulthood. To those who read this book, I would like to say that a girl can go on adventures, that a boy can cry if he needs to, that there is no right way to grow up. You just have to take the time to understand who you want to be." -- Enrico Orlandi

“Like a favorite recipe, a posy is meant to be savored and shared. Try it yourself, and … welcome a bit of floral enchantment into your life.” —Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist Inspired by the Victorian-era language of flowers, a posy is a small, round bouquet of flowers, herbs, and plants meant to convey a message, such as dahlias for gratitude, sunflowers for adoration, or thyme for bravery. These floral poems have become Teresa Sabankaya’s signature. Brides want them for their weddings, but a posy is a lovely gift any time of year, and one that readers can easily put together from their garden or with blooms from their local florist. In The Posy Book, Sabankaya shares step-by-step instructions, floral recipes for more than 20 posies, and ideas for seasonal variations. A modern floral dictionary, with 12 original paintings by celebrated illustrator Maryjo Koch, will help readers craft their own posies filled with personal meaning.

Historical novel based on the life of the 19th century Chinese prostitute who became the most powerful pirate in history. The first time her story has been fully told in any language.