Herbarium

A boy’s journey through loss, love, and the fragile beauty of nature

Herbarium is a work of eco-fiction of startling ambition and talent. Growing up in Dubai with his parents, Tipu is a sensitive little boy more at home in the glow of video games than in the natural landscapes his mother, Fatima, adores. But during a weekend trip, Tipu’s world of whimsy is upended. Like a transplanted seedling, he comes to live at his mother’s childhood home in Kerala, where he is surrounded by the traces of her past—handwritten notes, pressed flowers and leafs, & the stories people remember her by.

In the hush of groves and unspoken wounds carried over generations in their community, Tipu begins to see the world through his mother’s eyes. Plants become dearer to him—the thought of their dwindling numbers parallels his more personal and immediate loss. Following the changes in little Tipu’s life, full of curiosities, friction and the heartbreak of growing up, this story is one of love, loss, and the quiet resilience of being.