• According to a recent Newsday article, conservatory and sunroom construction has grown 40% over the last five years and now constitutes a $2.5 billion annual industry in the U.S. Many of these conservatory owners are, like the author, baby boomers new to both indoor gardening and the challenges of middle age.

• Sure to appeal to gardeners, armchair horticulturalists, baby boomers and empty nesters, home improvement enthusiasts, and lovers of narrative nonfiction, Ruth Kassinger’s captivating story is a fascinating look at a growing trend and how it can be achieved in one’s own private space.

In the wake of her sister’s death and her children’s departure for college, baby boomer and journalist Ruth Kassinger found herself with time on her hands—and a lone, struggling houseplant at the top of her basement stairs. One cold, gray evening, flooded with thoughts of middle age, change, and loss, Kassinger wandered into the U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory in Washington, D.C.—and a dream was born.

Dazzled by the vast, dense cascade of greenery before her, Kassinger began a quest to create a verdant sanctuary of her very own. In Paradise Under Glass, she chronicles her journey from brown thumb to green as she studies myriad conservatories throughout history and plans her own. Her search to create her own private space offers a lively narrative tour of past and present, from the Renaissance orangeries to the glass palaces of Kew to modern high-tech marvels, and finally into her own backyard where she brings her personal Garden of Eden—complete with butterflies and a “living wall”—to life.