Description That pull toward somewhere impossibly far away, the longing for a place you can never return to, the breathless feeling that comes when you suddenly fall in love with someone or something... Words from distant lands that touch the deepest parts of our hearts, even though they can't be translated into a single word... Foreign words that finally give a name to feelings you could never quite put into words yourself — a greeting of empathy and connection carried by these strange and beautiful words! As we grow up, we naturally learn our mother tongue and use it to express our own thoughts and feelings, and to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. But sometimes in life, we feel emotions that are hard to explain even with the countless words of our native language. What if there were a foreign word that captured that subtle feeling perfectly? 'If You Could Name Your Heart' is a picture book that gathers 71 words from 17 countries around the world — words that precisely capture feelings or situations that other languages struggle to express in a single word. There's the English word 'hiraeth,' meaning a longing for a home you can never return to; the German word 'Torschlusspanik,' meaning the fear of missed opportunities and time slipping away; the Dutch word 'gezellig,' describing the warm, uplifting feeling of spending time with loved ones; the Egyptian Arabic word 'tarab,' describing the ecstasy felt while listening to beautiful music; and the Finnish word 'myötähäpeä,' describing the secondhand embarrassment we feel when witnessing someone else's silly or foolish behavior. These words, collected by Mariya Ivashkina, finally give a name to feelings you could never quite name yourself. Encountering a foreign word that captures a feeling you struggle to explain even in your own language is a truly wondrous experience. It can feel as joyful and exciting as meeting someone who understands a part of you that even those closest to you have never noticed — and it can also be a deeply moving reminder that even people who speak different languages and live in different cultures are connected to us within the larger circle of life. Part of the joy of this book is imagining the emotions and culture behind each word — words that condense into a single term what would take a whole phrase or sentence to explain in our own language, yet are used so naturally in everyday life by the people who created them. In neighboring Japan, there's a word, 'komorebi,' for the sunlight that filters through leaves. In Greece, there's a word, 'volta,' for the act of strolling wherever your feet take you, enjoying the sounds and scenery along the way. In Spain, there's a word, 'sobremesa,' for the time spent lingering at the table after a meal, chatting away with empty plates still in front of everyone. In Sweden, there's a word, 'smultronställe' (literally, 'wild strawberry patch'), for a special place you go to when you want to hide from the world or simply be alone. Even our own Korean word 'yunseul,' describing the sparkling ripples of light on water under sunlight or moonlight, belongs to this same family of words. To open this book and read it is to meet the hearts of the people who shaped these lovely words — the tender hearts that gave a name to 'sunlight filtering through leaves' and to 'ripples sparkling in the light.' A Picture Book of Comfort for Those Weary of Isolation and Disconnection Mariya Ivashkina, who has long worked as a designer and illustrator, published her first picture book, 'If You Could Name Your Heart,' in 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — a time when the days of freely traveling anywhere in the world felt like a distant dream. Using the online networks that remained one of the few unbroken links to the wider world after the pandemic began, the author set out to connect herself to the world, and in turn, to connect others to the world as well. She met people from all over the globe online and collected words from their native languages that had no true equivalent in other tongues. From the many words she gathered, she selected those that best captured the emotions and culture of each country, then referenced countless photographs to bring each feeling and culture to life in scenes that anyone could intuitively understand — and the result is this picture book. Without a single mention of the pandemic, the author offers warm comfort to readers weary from long isolation and disconnection.