EVERYTHING THE LIGHT TOUCHES Paperback

"Everything the Light Touches" by Janice Pariat is an elegant, multi-layered novel that interweaves the journeys of four distinct characters across continents and centuries, all connected by their relationship with the natural world and different ways of seeing. The narrative follows Shai, a young woman in modern India who finds renewal among indigenous communities in the Northeast: Evelyn, an Edwardian botany student drawn to the sacred forests of the Lower Himalayas: Carl Linnaeus, the renowned botanist and taxonomist on his 1732 expedition to Lapland: and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German polymath who formulates his revolutionary ideas about plant metamorphosis while traveling through Italy. Richly drawn from scientific and botanical concepts, the book explores themes contrasting modern India with its colonial past, urban and rural life, capitalism versus ancient traditions, and the imposition of rigid classifications versus the fluidity and interconnectedness of all life, ultimately advocating for a deeper, more empathetic understanding of our planet and ourselves.