New Novel Echoes Themes, Adventure of “Eat, Pray, Love” and “The Orchid Thief”

Author Margot Berwin will speak about her book, “Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at the New Canaan Library. She will also sign copies, which will be available for purchase from Elm Street Books, co-sponsor of the event.

Berwin’s debut novel about plant magic, spiritual discovery and romantic fever in the jungles of Mexico and at a Laundromat and green market in lower Manhattan, is best described as “Eat, Pray, Love” meets “The Orchid Thief.”

In the story, shortly after her divorce, advertising executive Lila Nova purchases her first plant, a bird of paradise, at Union Square’s greenmarket. The seller is David Exley, a rugged “countrysexual” who promises a paradise of his own in addition to the plant. Lila is immediately intrigued, but when David introduces her to the nine plants of desire, and after she meets Armand, who claims to own the nine plants, she finds herself on an adventure she never imagined taking. In the Yucatán, alone, hefting a backpack full of travel guides and expensive shampoo, Lila learns more than she ever wanted to know about the rain forest—and about herself.

Plant mythology, shamans and charlatans, mysterious spirit animals, obsessed orchid lovers, large scorpions and handsome men — they’re all here in this rollicking tale of mystery, adventure and heat.

Berwin says she was inspired to write the novel while walking home from a party late one night. She recalls passing a L aundromat packed with plants and going in to look around. She spoke with the owner for a long time about his homeland of Colombia and his plants. “He gave me a cutting, and I left,” she recalls. “On my ten-block walk home, the structure for the book I’d always wanted to write downloaded into my head. Just like that.”

Berwin’s stories have appeared on Nerve.com, in the New York Press, and in the anthology “The Future of Misbehavior.” She lives in New York City with a killer collection of plants.

Admission to the talk is free, but reservations are recommended. Call 594-5003 or email clahey@newcanaanlibrary.org.