A book of radical acceptance from the Pulitzer Prize finalist – ‘Beautiful’ Douglas Stuart
A remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance from acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li as she considers the loss of her son James.
1st September 2025
Hardcover
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Summary
A book of radical acceptance from the Pulitzer Prize finalist – ‘Beautiful’ Douglas Stuart
A remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance from acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li as she considers the loss of her son James.
Description
'One of the most important books to be published in years' SARA COLLINS
'There are few writers with Li’s power' DOUGLAS STUART
'An extraordinary book’ SARAH MOSS
'A manifesto of living' SINÉAD GLEESON
A remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance from acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li as she considers the loss of her son James.
'There is no good way to say this,' Yiyun Li writes at the beginning of this book.
'There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged. My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.'
There is no good way to say this – because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, 'a single point in a timeline'. Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking and reasoning and searching for words that might hold a place for James. Li does what she can: including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thinkingly alongside death.
This is a book for James, but it is not a book about grieving. As Li writes, 'The verb that does not die is to be. Vincent was and is and will always be Vincent. James was and is and will always be James. We were and are and will always be their parents. There is no now and then, now and later, only, now and now and now and now.' Things in Nature Merely Grow is a testament to Li’s indomitable spirit.
As seen in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, LA Times, TIME, and the Paris Review.
'To state that this courageous book is a testament to love is an understatement. One is left altered by it' OBSERVER
'A story of loss that is unlike any other book I've read … an unforgettable monument to endurance' SUNDAY TIMES
'Resolutely unsentimental, and yet it might wind you with its emotional force' GUARDIAN
'A memoir unlike others, strange and profound and fiercely determined not to look away' NEW YORK TIMES
'A manifesto of living, not dying, and of how we endure the most unimaginable things' SINÉAD GLEESON, in THE WEEK
'A profound look at how a parent continues to live in a world without her children’ TIME
‘Li’s astonishing record of how she has chosen acceptance over despair'LA TIMES
Critic Reviews
Praise for Things in Nature Merely Grow:
'To state that this courageous book is a testament to love is an understatement. One is left altered by it at the same time as desperately wishing that it had never needed to be written at all' Observer
'An unforgettable monument to endurance, one that offers a kind of fierce comfort' Sunday Times
'A meditation on living and radical acceptance that has the potential to offer deep solace; comfort from the abyss’ Guardian
‘Grief is a difficult subject to write about, but this devastating account of the suicides of Li's two sons is clear-eyed and unsentimental. It's a manifesto of living, not dying, and of how we endure the most unimaginable things’ Sinéad Gleeson, The Week
‘A formidable testament to a mother’s love … one of the most important books to be published in years’ Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton
‘There are few writers with Li’s power and this is a beautiful, unsentimental book that offers some understanding of coping with devastating loss. It offers a powerful human connection and I was reminded that this is why we write, this is why we read’ Douglas Stuart, author of Young Mungo
'I held my breath as I read, not because of jeopardy but because it’s such an astonishing high-wire act of writing and thinking and mourning … An extraordinary book’ Sarah Moss, author of Ripeness
‘Li’s astonishing record of how she has chosen acceptance over despair shows why artists among us sometimes offer more wisdom than any other spirituality’ LA Times
‘A profound look at how a parent continues to live in a world without her children’ TIME
'The power of Things in Nature Merely Grow resides in her refusal to pay obeisance to words' Harper’s Magazine
‘An impossible book, yet through Li’s deftness and determination she transforms the book into an intricate and nonlinear portrait of loss and love’ Chicago Review of Books
About the Author
Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing, China, and came to the United States in 1996. She is the recipient of several prizes for her writing and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Li’s stories have been published in the New Yorker, the Paris Review and elsewhere. She lives in Iowa City, USA, with her husband and their two sons.
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1st September 2025
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