Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey

Using engaging, insightful, lyrical language, poet and octogenarian Shaw (The Secret Trees), who also penned three books with Madeleine L’Engle, offers reflections on her life in a neatly gathered, extended metaphor about making a journey to the summit of the mountain of life. At times droll and crotchety, and at others vulnerable and brutally honest about aging’s physical and emotional price, Shaw shares perspicacity gleaned in her walk through valleys and hills on her way toward the inevitable “peak” in life. Memories, regrets, fears, and hope find their way into the poem-infused pages in a refreshingly frank look at life from someone pausing to look back from the summit. Readers further along in years can relate to a book written with them in mind, while those not experiencing knee replacement surgery, for example, or not yet paying other tolls along the road to old age, can benefit from advice about what lies ahead. Shaw doesn’t pretend to have all of the answers— questions about God and the search for meaning in life still persist—but she ponders them with a grace and faith that make the reader glad to be along for a portion of the journey. Agent: Kathryn Helmers, Creative Trust. (Feb.)