Helen Humphreys is the author of 19 works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, including Rabbit Foot Bill and The Frozen Thames. She has won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, a Lambda Literary Award for Fiction, and the Toronto Book Award, and has been shortlisted for the Governor General's Award, the Trillium Book Award, and CBC's Canada Reads. She is the recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize for literary excellence. Humphreys lives in Kingston, Ontario.
"""This book changed my perspective on herbaria ... Humphreys sees the space as one where people and plants come together very intimately."" -- Herbarium World ""[A] delightful mix of memoir and field study ... In beautiful prose, Humphreys describes her experience acquainting herself with plants ... Readers who appreciated Aimee Nezhukumatathil's World of Wonders will revel in these gorgeous explorations."" -- Publishers Weekly starred review ""A beautiful volume to appeal to the armchair gardener and historian alike. Based on a year studying plant samples collected over decades, she connects plant lovers from over the centuries and offers insight into nature's tenacity."" -- Toronto Star ""Beautifully illustrated, it will be a perfect companion when you slouch in your armchair next to the Christmas tree for an evening read. A meticulously researched story of plants collected and people behind them; all based on herbarium labels, margin notes, scribbles, sketches, drawings and old photographs, but mostly the plant specimens themselves."" -- Field Botanists of Ontario ""Her pages glow with plant samples, lichen as lacy-bright as the day they were found, orchids sadly faded to brown."" -- Toronto Star"