The way through the woods : on mushrooms and mourning
(Book)

Originally published in Norwegian as Stien tilbake til livet by Vigmostad & Bjorke, Oslo in 2017.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [283]-284) and index.

Long Litt Woon met Eiolf a month after arriving in Norway from Malaysia as an exchange student. They fell in love, married, and settled into domestic bliss. Then Eiolfs unexpected death at fifty-four left Woon struggling to imagine a life without the man who had been her partner and anchor for thirty-two years. Adrift in grief, she signed up for a beginners course on mushroominga course the two of them had planned to take togetherand found, to her surprise, that the pursuit of mushrooms rekindled her zest for life. This is the story of parallel journeys: an inner one, through the landscape of mourning, and an outer one, into the fascinating realm of mushroomsresilient, adaptable, and essential to natures cycle of death and rebirth. From idyllic Norwegian forests and urban flower beds to the sandy beaches of Corsica and New Yorks Central Park, Woon uncovers an abundance of surprises often hidden in plain sight. Along the way, she discovers the warm fellowship of other mushroom obsessives, and finds that giving her full attention to the natural world transforms her, opening a way for her to survive Eiolfs death, to see herself anew, and to reengage with life.