At the heart of every story in Audrey Whitson’s collection is a character seeking personal purpose amongst the deep mysteries of self, and a wholeness amid the fractious nature of life. Whitson’s evocative narration guides us effortlessly through these often turbulent journeys, seamlessly taking in a vast range of time and place along the way. An admirable authenticity of voice lends an intimacy and honesty to her carefully constructed tales. The vividly depicted Mexican terrain and culture of “The Land Within” permeates a conflicted young woman and helps her to uncover her true self; “The Parts of a Man That Can Be Held Together” features a devout Catholic desperately struggling to resolve religious identity with sexual orientation. “The Water Witcher” shows Christianity and white magic making surprisingly comfortable partners while widening the worldly understanding of a young Albertan farm girl. Whitson’s respect for her characters and gift for depicting a world enriched by diversity of beliefs, combined with a unique spiritual edge, creates a book alluringly imbued with significance, unveiled secrets, and mysterious events.

“Engrossing and searching. These stories deal with the mysteries at the heart of childhood, family, and life. Audrey Whitson is a writer to watch.” — Mary Borsky, author of Influence of the Moon and Cobalt Blue. “Each place is vividly captured, grounded in the earth, from black loam to red dust, but it is in illuminating the land within that Whitson excels.” — Caterina Edwards, author of Homeground

Audrey Whitson's short fiction has appeared in Alberta Views, the Canadian Journal of Prairie Literature, Confluence, FreeFall, andRoom Magazine. Her first book, Teaching Places (Wilfred Laurier University Press 2003), a memoir about how the land teaches, was shortlisted for three awards. Her poetry and essays have been published in many magazines and anthologies and have won awards. Audrey grew up on a farm in northern Alberta and has worked as a social worker, consulting and teaching theologian, editor and project manager. In the 1980s she spent almost five years in the San Francisco Bay Area, working with Mexican migrant workers and Central American refugees as well as studying feminist and liberation theology at the Graduate Theological Union (and Franciscan School of Theology) at Berkeley.

Audrey Whitson's profile page