Trees are guiding symbols for Yelizaveta P. Renfro in her life and in her work. Combining memoir and nature writing, this book comprises nine essays that represent different seasons and slices of time, not unlike the rings of a tree. No two rings are alike, but each accretes to the next, creating, section by section, a life.

"In these profound and moving essays, Yelizaveta Renfro applies a scientist's eye for detail and a reporter's investigative prowess to the essential questions of our nature, human and otherwise. Her personal and botanical inquiries into the themes of growth, death,...