Nature and Other Mothers: Personal Stories of Women and the Body of Earth

(Paperback)

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After the success of Living by Water, novelist and nature writer Brenda Peterson turns her eye on the nature in human nature. Her focus in mainly the feminine body -- of earth and women, of animals, human and nonhuman. Whether writing about whales or women's bathing rituals, salmon or friendship, rain forests or life-saving dreams, Peterson weaves a compelling story of the bond between nature and ourselves. This rich, expanded collection was first hailed by critics as "lyrical and life-enhancing...with large doses of wonder, humor, and warmth." The new essays include a moving appeal to seek compassion in healing our sexual lives during this time of AIDS. There are also chronicles of the birth, death, and afterlife of a baby beluga whale, and of the seagull's memory for human faces. Peterson's passionately observed subjects range from lullabies to abortion, dolphins to old-growth forests, fundamentalism to fishing. Combining her skills as a mesmerizing storyteller and nationally acclaimed nature writer, Peterson explores the healing, vital symbiosis between the sacred, sensual body of our earth and the feminine -- and intimacy which instructs and inspires, but most of all sustains us.

Reviews

"Peterson writes a vital, intimate prose that energizes readers with its intelligence and good humor."

-- Publishers Weekly

"Her powerful essays about how and where we find mothering are replete with rich, sensual imagery, poignant still lifes, wisdom and wit."

-- Maureen Murdock

Author of Father's Daughters

Author Bio

Brenda Peterson is the author of three novels and another collection of essays, Living by Water, chosen one of the best books of the year by the American Library Association. She lives on Puget Sound in Seattle.