Daffodil: Biography of a Flower

by Helen O'Neill

A beautifully illustrated, visually lush and intriguing book about the world's most popular and most powerful flower. The daffodil is the beautiful first flower of spring, the inspiration of poets, a treasure-trove to scientists and a symbol of everything from unrequited love, rebirth, eternal life and misfortune. Over centuries, the daffodil has been so many things to so many people: it was called 'Narcissus' by the Greeks and prized by the Romans as guarantee of passage to the Underworld; it was used by medieval Arabs and ancient Chinese for its medicinal properties and it has inspired poets, lovers, artists and scientists down the ages. But in telling the story of the daffodil, what award-winning, best-selling writer Helen O'Neill is really telling is the story of humanity. It's a narrative of progress from superstition and myth, taking in politics, greed, religion, science, chance, redemption and love. But, appropriately enough for a flower that is now used on a worldwide basis to raise funds for cancer research, it is, above all, a story of hope. Moving, fascinating, eloquent, and also beautiful.

Genres: Nonfiction, Plants, Science, Nature, Environmental Science, History

240 pages, Hardcover

Published January 24, 2017

Reviews

[Saturday's Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spring has arrived so what better way to appreciate it than to read about a flower that many people associate with the season. What I enjoyed the most about this book was its wonderful illustrations.

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a gardener although I love flowers, so 'Daffodil: Biography of a Flower'is not a title which would usually attract me. I started reading it on the Sydney-Melbourne plane and loved the feel and look of this book and the breadth of the ideas and mind behind it. So I kept reading.

It's an ideas biography, full of quotable facts about the symbolism of the daffodil. Loved the daffodil bulb anecdote about the Keesing Writers' studio in Paris where the author left the bulbs in the drawer for the next writer to spring plant the hope of creativity after winter.

Visually the cover, endpapers and internal photos are appealing. The font of the text is small but the rest of the design is thoughtful.

Many of the daffodil visuals used in the book are familiar art works or photos. The image captions have rich information and are worth browsing more than once. But the most fascinating aspect is the scientific, botanical classifying section and how the strains are cultivated. And how obsessive are some cultivators of daffodils. The myth of Narcissus is linked in the classifying name.

Daffodils symbolise hope. Helen O Neill is an excellent researcher and it shows. The text is economical but poetic. And 'Daffodil' is the kind of book I will buy as a gift for my thoughtful reader friends. Not all of them are gardeners. but at least now I know more of the history of daffodils.

And this is the kind of book people keep, even when they de-clutter. A beautiful book.

[Amanda Witt]

A great write up of a flower that comes from a bulb and its history over the years. There are now hundreds of different varieties, thanks to breeders work in crossing different flowers together.

[Raynee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice novel, a lovely biography.

[Dawn A Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous! This book helped me fall in love with daffs all over again.

[ayesha]

took me a while to finish this, which is usually the way i am about non-fiction books surrounding topics i don't normally read. i love love loved the descriptions of the various kinds of flowers.. A nice read for when i'm not looking for a book to get too engrossed in

[Mills College Library]

584.34 O5872 2016