The Gardener’s Year

From the internationally acclaimed Czech writer; Karel Capek comes with this beautifully written and marvelous account of the trials and tribulations of the gardener’s life. First published in Prague in 1929, The Gardener’s Year combines a richly comic portrait of life in the garden, narrated month by month, with a series of delightful illustrations by the author’s older brother and collaborator, Josef. Capek’s gardeners—all too human, despite their lofty aspirations—often look the fool, whether they be found sopping wet, victims of the cobra-like water hose, or hunched over, hands immersed in the soil, “presenting their rumps to the splendid azure sky.”