Malaysian author finds unlikely link between mushrooms and mourning in new book

Long Litt Woon found solace in mushrooming after the death of her husband. Photo: Johs. Boe

You would be forgiven for raising a brow, or even two, when presented with this unlikely premise: a book on mourning and mushrooms. Surely there must be some mistake, perhaps a case of alliteration taken to extremes?

But no. Author Long Litt Woon, raised in Taiping, Perak, and currently based in Norway, not only did it – but she has done it with flair. Her book, part memoir and part mushroom-hunting adventure, invites us into her life, beginning with that one terrible, dreadful day when husband Eiolf “went to work and didn’t come home”, to her coping with his untimely death.