Edge Seasons
A Mid-life Year
Published on 12. September 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
242 pages
978-0-676-97642-7 (ISBN)
Description
From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of The Hatbox Letters and Shadow Child comes the story of a year of transformation.
In the middle years of her life, Beth Powning stands on a threshold: an "edge season." Late one August, when Beth and her partner, Peter, observe the deserted sauna bath on their farm near Sussex, New Brunswick, she remembers the faith and energy that went into building it. As they begin to repair the sauna, the project becomes a metaphor for how dreams, relationships and commitments need to be continuously renewed. While their only child, Jake, prepares to leave for university, Beth and Peter contemplate changes of their own.
As fall and winter gradually shut down the vibrant life of the gardens, fields and forests near her home, Beth witnesses the beauty and regenerative force of the natural world, weaving acutely observed descriptions of the countryside with the story of her own intimate transformation. Edge Seasons is an intensely absorbing journey that illuminates how change can shatter even as it strengthens.
In the middle years of her life, Beth Powning stands on a threshold: an "edge season." Late one August, when Beth and her partner, Peter, observe the deserted sauna bath on their farm near Sussex, New Brunswick, she remembers the faith and energy that went into building it. As they begin to repair the sauna, the project becomes a metaphor for how dreams, relationships and commitments need to be continuously renewed. While their only child, Jake, prepares to leave for university, Beth and Peter contemplate changes of their own.
As fall and winter gradually shut down the vibrant life of the gardens, fields and forests near her home, Beth witnesses the beauty and regenerative force of the natural world, weaving acutely observed descriptions of the countryside with the story of her own intimate transformation. Edge Seasons is an intensely absorbing journey that illuminates how change can shatter even as it strengthens.
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BETH POWNING's previous books include the bestselling novels The Hatbox Letters, The Sea Captain's Wife, and most recently A Measure of Light, a Globe and Mail Best Book and winner of the inaugural New Brunswick Book Award for Fiction. Her works of memoir include Seeds of Another Summer: Finding the Spirit of Home in Nature, Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss, and Edge Seasons: A Mid-Life Year. In 2010, Beth was awarded New Brunswick's Lieutenant-Governor's Award for High Achievement in English-Language Literary Arts. She lives on a 300-acre farm near Sussex, New Brunswick, with her husband, the renowned sculptor Peter Powning.