  Nancy, Linda, and Gaydell take a break during a booksigning tour for Woven on the Wind. |
Woven on the WindWoven on the Wind: Women Write About Friendship in the Sagebrush West Edited by Linda M. Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier & Nancy Curtis A collection of true stories, poems, and reflections from 148 women of the interior West, writing about their kinship with other women, whether friends, relatives or enemies. Woven tells of the beauties, ironies, rigors, heartbreak and humor of western life and how it is enriched by friendships past and present. Anthology, nonfiction and poetry. With contributor biographies, map and introduction. 312 pages; Size: 6 X 9. hardcover ISBN 0-395-97708-8 $25.00 Published 2001 Houghton Mifflin Company paperback ISBN 0-618-21920-X $14.00 Published 2002 Houghton Mifflin, Mariner Books Want to know more? More about Woven Praise for Woven Reviews of Woven Please note: a readers’ guide to Woven is available on the "Articles" page. About Woven on the Wind In the spirit of the sleeper success Leaning Into the Wind, a new volume of "true stories," essays and poems from the heart of the American West, this time focusing on women's friendships. How do women's friendships flourish in the American West, where people are often separated by vast spaces? How do we learn from relationships, good and bad? What can these friendships, these women, teach us? In the grassroots tradition of Leaning Into the Wind, comes a new volume of women's voices – some fierce, some tender, but each strong in its own way. For Woven on the Wind (Houghton Mifflin, May 2001) editors Linda Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier, and Nancy Curtis collected contemporary stories told in essay and poetry form by women of the interior West, also known as sagebrush country. As diverse as the landscape, these are tales of friends and sisters, mothers and daughters, lifetime companions, and of those relationships that over time have fallen away. The voices in this volume – unsentimental, unflinching, and utterly unforgettable – take us into the souls, kitchens, barns, and along the country roads of nearly 150 western women, showing us how, in a life stripped down to what really matters, friendship can ground us and help us to grow. Each story contributes to a deeper understanding of the West as women experience it — the beauty, isolation, joy and tragedy. This is a book filled with heroines. A nun recounts the story of the courageous and pioneering sisters who left Bavaria to establish a nunnery in Colorado. A mother makes a harrowing bus trip during a legendary storm to bring her blind daughter home for Christmas, encountering very different women who bring her comfort and perspective. A woman comes to terms with the role her husband's mistress played in her own freedom and independence. Daughters learn how to cook, how to drive, how to ride and how to work. Through marriage, childbirth, drought, careers, and suicide, women stand strong or lean gratefully on their friends. These stories show that friendship knows no boundaries. In the West, women find and lean on each other despite race, religion, politics, or age. The sagebrush plant, with its simple beauty, hardiness, and symbiotic nature, aptly characterizes the region and many of the women who thrive there. Beneath the outer bark of sagebrush hides a slender white filament called the heart thread. Tradition teaches women to be silent, but the women in these pages break through the dark shell of silence and reveal their hearts. Many biologists now believe that sagebrush is so essential that without it the entire ecosystem of the West would collapse. The mythmakers responsible for the traditional image of the West as a male fantasy too often ignored the integral role of women, but the truth that history has forgotten still lives in the hearts of women scattered throughout the West. Woven on the Wind is a tribute to the women of the west, past, present and future, who nourish the soil, their families, and each other. This second volume of women’s writing from the heart of the American West expands to include stories, poems, and reflections from sixteen states and provinces. A communion of voices, Woven on the Wind tells of western life and the ways in which it is enriched by friendship past and present. "Every woman needs to read this book for its wit and harmony, its near-biblical wisdom." (Ann Zwinger). back to top Praise for Woven on the Wind "Out in the west, where weather looms large and sagebrush defies the odds and holds its ground, women lean toward women, telling stories, asking, listening. Woven on the Wind celebrates the friendships forged and not forgotten; the ties that bind, nurture, and strengthen; the lights left on across the years, despite the distance. Heartfelt, urgent, self-preserving, true, the stories here remind us all of friendship's enduring power." -- Beth Kephart, author of Into the Tangle of Friendship: A Memoir of the Things that Matter and A Slant of Sun "An eclectic collection with a commonality-- friendship-- which is shaped less by the west than it is by the real lives and concerns which these writers so ably describe." -- Sue Hubbell, author of A Book of Bees and A Country Year "Woven on the Wind is a wonderful showcase of western women's lives-- how they touch each other, what they owe to one another. Linda Hasselstrom, Nancy Curtis, and Gaydell Collier are to be thanked for documenting the friendships which have so long sustained us but which we have so seldom seen in print." -- Mary Clearman Blew, author of Sister Coyote and Runaway "Woven on the Wind carries the weight of a communal essay, a beautiful bouquet of touching communications that celebrate women’s ability to share, maintain, and nourish. Every woman needs to read this book for its wit and harmony, its near-Biblical wisdom, and its deep understanding of a unique way of life, and how, in the end, we all partake of the same hopes and dreams regardless of time and place. Woven on the Wind is the kind of book you give to those you care about most." -- Ann H. Zwinger, author of Downriver and The Nearsighted Naturalist "Woven on the Wind provides us with another volume of priceless personal accounts stemming from the women's perspective on the Western American story. Here is the essence of the West-- not the myth, but the truth." -- W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, authors of Dark Inheritance "An absolutely wonderful and touching collection, this book characterizes the ruggedness of the West and the resourcefulness of the women who inhabit it." -- Cowboy Magazine "In the mail was a royal pudding of a book, Woven on the Wind. . . Although past ninety and dim of vision, I've put it on my reading enlarger and have been pulling out delicious plums all this day. Congratulations." -- Dee Brown; author of Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee; Little Rock, Arkansas "I just finished reading the book cover to cover. I started reading it at 7:00 a.m. and I couldn't stop myself once I started. . . I recognized something in every voice and once they started building up together, I felt like I'd embarked on one incredible journey that I hadn't realized I'd signed up for. This is an amazing book." -- A reader in Colorado "The tales of connections and friendships in Woven really twist the heartstrings in a good way. This book will be a warm and enduring friend to any woman who troubles to read it. Men, too, can learn something about us puzzling females and be comforted." -- A reader in Montana "I just read "Girls Night Out" and love the idea that a group of women can talk about the myriad details of life like nobody else, so true!! I drove over to my friend Lynne's yesterday to dump the latest load of fresh manure (she has a huge garden) . . . she invited me in for tea, and I said no, had to keep going. . .well, she just got right in my vehicle to chat "for 5" and we started comparing the stories we'd read . . .and want to reread, and on and on for at least half an hour. . ." -- A reader in Massachusetts "Leaning into the Wind opened women's dialogue, but Woven opened their souls." -- A reader in Wyoming "Your postcard arrived 5/ -- A reader in Minnesota "I reread words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs or passages until I got every last drop of flavor, like a dog sucking marrow from a bone. When I came to the last page, I wished it could have been two or three times fatter." -- Trudy Wardwell, Pueblo, Colorado "I've been slowly working my way through Woven and am struck by how special this collection of stories and poems is. It's like peeking in my mother's jewelry box . . . and looking at the treasures inside. Usually they are hidden away in a private place and only rarely worn out in public. This will be a book that I can read over and over again. . . I hope that many girls and young women will sift through it and find the "gold" in it!!" -- A reader in South Dakota "Woven on the Wind has me laughing and crying at the same time. How beautifully you've honored women (again)!" -- Gail Sudman, Rapid City, South Dakota "Dear Editors, Just look what you've done!! Dust has joined dust, the garbage sack sits by the back door, my good pants need washing, and what are all those dishes doing in my sink? I can't put that book down! You have captured a spirit that rolls between women from one generation to the next." -- A reader in South Dakota Back to top |
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