Duty, desire, love, and purpose. Who we want to be and whom we want in our lives. As Susan prepares for the birth of her first child, she contemplates her role as a mother, wife, and partner on the family farm through the lives of the women closest to her. In a world of wanting and waiting, is fulfillment always beyond reach?

Praise for The Waiting Place

Lust and despair rival hard work and family in Sharron Arksey's exploration of women in a modern rural landscape, simultaneously shattering old-fashioned ideas of farm life and detailing the very real challenges and rewards of cattle ranching.

With the pain of childbirth as backdrop, The Waiting Place gives voice to the nuanced and sometimes secret lives of individual women bound together by family duty, revealing their stories with humour, compassion, and an unflinching honesty.
--Anne Lazurko, author of Dollybird

The Waiting Place is a subtle blend of sly, disarming humour, heartbreak, and poignancy. In its farming world populated by animals, every moment is human. That's the secret and triumph of this book.
--Terry Jordan, author of It's a Hard Cow and Beneath That Starry Place

Born and raised in Langruth, Manitoba, Sharron Arksey studied journalism at Ryerson University. After several years as a reporter/photographer in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Sharron returned to Langruth to marry her high school sweetheart, raise Simmental cattle, and two children. For 25 years, she wrote a weekly column about life in rural Manitoba called “Rural Routes”.

Sharron Arksey's profile page

Lust and despair rival hard work and family in Sharron Arksey's exploration of women in a modern rural landscape, simultaneously shattering old-fashioned ideas of farm life and detailing the very real challenges and rewards of cattle ranching.

With the pain of childbirth as backdrop, The Waiting Place gives voice to the nuanced and sometimes secret lives of individual women bound together by family duty, revealing their stories with humour, compassion, and an unflinching honesty.
--Anne Lazurko, author of Dollybird

The Waiting Place is a subtle blend of sly, disarming humour, heartbreak, and poignancy. In its farming world populated by animals, every moment is human. That's the secret and triumph of this book.
--Terry Jordan, author of It's a Hard Cow and Beneath That Starry Place