Laura Waterman will read from her memoir, Losing the Garden, at Heartstone Books in Putney, VT on Tuesday, June 13th at 7 pm.  A reception and book signing will follow.

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In 1971 Laura and Guy Waterman decided to give up all the conveniences of life and homestead—living on the land, for the land—in a cabin in the mountains of Vermont.  For nearly three decades they created a deliberate life, eating food they grew themselves, using no running water or electricity

The end of their marriage came on February 6, 2000, when Guy climbed to the summit of Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and sat down among the rocks to die.  Losing the Garden is the memoir of a woman who had to ask herself “How could I support my husband’s plan to commit suicide?” 

Laura’s father was the pre-eminent scholar of Emily Dickinson, Thomas H. Johnson, whose brilliance was muddied by alcoholism.  Guy Waterman lost two of his sons under mysterious circumstances.  Losing the Garden is an intimate examination of intricate and dark family histories and a marriage that tried to transcend them. In these pages, Laura Waterman comes to terms with her husband’s depression and his complex nature.  Her account of her own marriage, seen as idyllic but riddled from within, is nonetheless a love story, a portrait of an intense and unusual union, and an affirmation of life after loss. 

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LAURA WATERMAN co-authored many books with her husband, Guy Waterman, including Backwoods Ethics and Forest and Crag. She has published her work in many literary magazines and journals, including Appalachia and Vermont Magazine.

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“Laura and Guy Waterman set the wilderness ethics’ bar high, not just for themselves, but for the rest of us who spend time in wild places. Learning that Guy was besieged by his own demons does not diminish the power of their message to live lightly on the land, but rather it gives it depth and humanity.”

—Mary Margaret Sloan, President, American Hiking Society

 
Stephanie Montgomery’s interview with Waterman will air three times on WOOL 100.1 FM, the week of June 19th.  Check the Program Guide for the Memoir Café Radio Show at WOOL FM for details.  The interview will also be available online at  Memoir Cafe.

Waterman is the sixth author in the Women and Memoir Series hosted jointly by Heartstone Books and Memoir Café.  Memoir Café is an online workshop and journal for women exploring their life experiences through memoir. 
  
On July 25th, Lori Arviso Alvord will read from her book, The Scalpel and the Silver Bear.  Alvord was the first Navajo woman surgeon.  Her book chronicles her upbringing and her effort to incorporate the ancient, holistic wisdom of Navajo healing to the practice of surgery.
 
Every fourth month Richardson and Montgomery host an “Unsung Authors Night” when they invite unpublished women memoir writers to read their work.  The next of these special events is scheduled for August 14th and November 14th. 
 
Those interested in participating should contact Stephanie Montgomery at 603 756 2522 or by email at stephanie@memoircafe.com.  For further information about the series, contact Caryl Richardson at Heartstone Books at 802 387 2100.