“Moving and unexpectedly funny . . . Long tells the story of finding hope after despair lightly and artfully, with self-effacement and so much gentle good nature that we forgot how sad she (and we) are. . . . Seeing Long’s capacity for wonder and even contentment in the midst of her sadness feels like seeing tiny shoots of grass peeking from the ash in a landscape stripped bare by fire. Her memoir . . . intersperses the story of her mushroom education with details of her emotional journey, each informing the other. She is a fine anthropologist of both. . . . At its center, this book poses a familiar, awful existential question. How do you go on living when the person you loved so much—perhaps the person you loved best in the world—is gone? Everyone must find her own answer. Long’s is as good as any.”—The New York Times
