My Wild Garden

“Insightful, funny . . . Full of wisdom . . . You come away from the garden memoir with a clear sense of the author—his concerns, his surroundings, his loves—and a string of reverberating questions. Why, for example, as Shalev notes, are so few flowers mentioned in the Bible? What does that say about us as a people? And why do the poppies sway—even when the air is still? . . . I went to sleep every night with the smell of fresh figs and lemons and the sound of birdsong in my ears and the image of Shalev’s beloved black cat, Kramer, the hero of many of his Hebrew children’s stories, sleeping the day away beneath the buckthorn tree.” —Mitch Ginsburg, The Times of Israel

“A freewheeling horticultural homage . . . Shalev’s own garden serves as a point of departure for literary musings that bloom into a kind of ‘autobiography with flowers.’ . . . Witty prose expertly translated from the Hebrew by Joanna Chen and charmingly illustrated by Refaella Shir.” —Benjamin Balint, Tel Aviv Review of Books

“A nurturer of plants who is careful not to waste even a single seed and mourns the death of a tree, Shalev is a lyrical stylist and philosopher who writes with passion and humor. Drawings by Shir enhance the text.” —Sue O’Brien, Library Journal
 
“Charming musings on the ‘moments of bliss’ found in the garden . . . in which gardening teaches perspective and the rewards of hard work . . . Rests on solid botanical knowledge but is never heavy-handed.” —Kirkus Reviews