Molecules and Women

A collection of fifteen vignettes, Molecules and Womentakes a journey through the lives of women connected invisibly across time and space. The narratives carry and embody the voices and actions of women, some spoken, some witnessed, some experienced firsthand. They illuminate pivotal moments, some disguised as ordinary events, others where loss and grief are so overwhelming, or surprise and joy so transformative that the well from which wisdom springs forth is revealed. In the title story, "Molecules and Women," Philomena Jackson North, a little girl who goes by the name Willow, surprises her mother, Leona, with her deep thoughts about the world around her. In "The Night the Wave Broke," Carla, on the eve of giving birth in a remote mountain village in Spain, seriously questions her husband's sanity and her and her unborn child's safety. As women come together, the interstices become portals into the deeper chambers of the heart, and questions confronted daily are invited, embraced, and lived. Molecules and Women explores a spiral path of lessons learned, lost, and remembered, into the unfolding landscape of dwelling and discovery.