Living by Water True Stories of Nature and Spirit

From her saltwater home near the shores of Puget Sound, novelist and essayist Brenda Peterson explores the tidal pull of the mist-shrouded Pacific Northwest. In Living by Water, Peterson first described for readers nature's "lightning revelation . . . the simple rhythms of water." As she observes seals, whales, and seabirds; watches the changing tides and weather, she notes how the natural world shapes the lives and spirits of the inhabitants -- animal and human -- of her chosen home.Her meditations, which range from a portrait of craggy, longtime environmentalist Joseph Meeker to a description of her love of dolphins, to a deadly comparison between Washington's Green River and South America's Amazon, all entreat the reader to recognize the need to heal the treaty broken between humans and their natural world.From Henry Thoreau's reflections on Walden Pond to Annie Dillard's journal of life at Tinker Creak, writers have found that water can shape a life and a philosophy. In that same tradition, Brenda,Peterson writes, "I've apprenticed myself to Puget Sound because I believe it will teach me more about living than what I've learned so far." Living by Water offers timeless wisdom that applies to all people in all places who long to awaken to what naturalist Thomas Berry has called the "dream of the earth."