With her books A Romantic Education, Virgin Time, and Blue Arabesque (now in paperback), Patricia Hampl has helped define what Booklist has called “the memoir of discovery.”

“If Patricia Hampl had written memoirs chronicling her days in New York or Los Angeles, her name would be on every American reader's lips. Hailing from flyover country, Minnesota, she has fewer readers than she deserves. Still, "A Romantic Education" and "Virgin Time" demonstrated her bountiful evocative gifts. Now comes "The Florist's Daughter" (Harcourt) to summon her parents back to vivid life. Hampl's mother, a feisty Irish-American storyteller, and father, a tenderhearted Czech-American florist who catered to St. Paul's elite - Truth and Beauty, indeed! - endowed their daughter with a writer's essential credentials. Hampl's prose is delightfully fluid, artful without being arty, ever attuned to ambiguity. She is, unquestionably, one of the finest stylists we have.”
Dan Cryer, in Newsday’s “Books We Liked Best in 2007”

Listen to the recent NPR interview with Diane Rehm
Listen to the staged reading of The Florist's Daughter at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul

Read a consideration of Hampl’s work in the National Catholic reporter.

Recent The Florist’s Daughter news:
Minnesota Book Award finalist (Memoir & Creative Nonfiction)
Chicago Tribune Best Books of 2007