NOMINATED FOR THE 2025 BAILLIE GIFFORD NON-FICTION PRIZE

NOMINATED FOR THE 2025 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS

FINALIST FOR THE 2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NON-FICTION

‘Unforgettable’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Courageous’ OBSERVER

‘One of the most important books published in years’ SARA COLLINS

An extraordinary, courageous work of radical acceptance from acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li as she reflects on 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 are insufficient. It takes only a moment for death to become fact, 'a single point in a timeline'. Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking, reasoning, and searching for words that might hold a space for James. Li does what she can: including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thoughtfully 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 resilient spirit.

As featured in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, LA Times, TIME, and the Paris Review.

‘A memoir unlike others, strange and profound and fiercely determined not to look away’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘To say that this courageous book is a testament to love is an understatement. It leaves a lasting impact’ OBSERVER

‘A story of loss that is unlike any other book I have read … an unforgettable tribute to endurance’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘A profound exploration of how a parent continues to live in a world without her children’ TIME

‘Few writers possess Li’s power’ DOUGLAS STUART

‘The best book I have read this year’ DAVID NICHOLLS

‘An extraordinary book’ SARAH MOSS

‘I will revisit it for the rest of my life’ CHARLOTTE WOOD

‘A manifesto of living, not dying, and of how we endure the most unimaginable experiences’ SINÉAD GLEESON

‘A book unlike any I’ve read, filled with rare clarity and intelligence, love, and care. It will stay with me for a long time’ CECILE PIN

Pages: 192, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm