Award-winning author Amy Stewart takes readers on an around-the-world, behind-the-scenes look at the flower industry and how it has sought--for better or worse--to achieve perfection. She tracks down the hybridizers, geneticists, farmers, and florists working to invent, manufacture, and sell flowers that are bigger, brighter, and sturdier than anything nature can provide. There's a scientist intent on developing the first genetically modified blue rose; an eccentric horitcultural legend who created the most popular lily; a breeder of gerberas of every color imaginable; and an Ecuadorean farmer growing exquisite roses, the floral equivalent of a Tiffany diamond. And, at every turn she discovers the startling intersection of nature and technology, of sentiment and commerce.

Amy Stewart lives in northern California, where she and her husband own an antiquarian bookstore called Eureka Books. She writes books by typing very quickly and loudly on a jet black keyboard that has no letters printed on the keys, proving (to herself, because no one else particularly cares) that she is an excellent touch typist.

When she's not writing books, reading them, or shelving them, she might be painting. You can see examples of her paintings here and here.

You can also find her all over the country speaking to audiences at bookstores, botanical gardens, garden clubs, and college and museum lecture series. To find out if she's coming to your town, visit the Events page of her website.

Four of Amy's books have been New York Times bestsellers, and she has enjoyed contributing to the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Good Morning America, and CBS Sunday Morning.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) granted her a Creative Writing Fellowship, and she's the winner of the American Horticultural Society's Book Award.