The Nuns of Shaw Island

Plus an upcoming Palouse visit and a GIVEAWAY!

Friends,

I’m not a Catholic, but I’d looked forward to staying with the nuns for months. Since my first correspondence with Mother H, I’d imagined joining them on their 300 acre working farm at a Benedictine monastery of women known for their hospitality.

To reach Our Lady of the Rock, I’d travel to Shaw Island in Washington State’s San Juan Islands. With fewer than two hundred residents, Shaw is the smallest of the four islands connected to the mainland by the Anacortes ferry, but larger than hundreds of others in the archipelago, many of which I’d boated to with my grandparents as a child.

I’d have been met by an intern, not the nuns themselves, whose warm reception would have shown not in face-to-face interactions, but in their guest house, their garden, their fields, livestock, and chickens. In the contemplative atmosphere they’d have provided and the times of worship and prayer throughout the day.

The setting, I hoped, would have fostered my own inner quiet. I’d even planned to take a vow of silence for the four days I’d spend there—listening intently. Breathing. Seeking direction.

But two days before last week’s scheduled stay, Mother H wrote again, her kind email apologetic. Illness had come to the community. The worst was past, but with four women over eighty among them, they needed to cancel my visit.

I sat for a bit with the news, then contacted three friends, all wise and funny. Frankly, being with them is a contemplative experience, but without the solitude. “You up for some island-hopping?” I asked.

They were.

And so, on a monochrome day last week, we boarded the Anacortes ferry MV Yakima. An hour-plus later we hopped off at Shaw, the smallest island on the route.

Shaw’s densely wooded and rocky, its few fields cleared mostly by pioneers. Snugged near the ferry dock are a post office, bar, and store—all tiny. Apart from those buildings, a smattering of homes, a rustic library and school, the island’s pretty much wild, its forests dark. Locals we talked to from other islands call Shaw remote, broody.

Exactly what I’d hoped to find.

“Nothing there,” said another.

Oh, but there was. We explored for three hours before the ferry returned.

And saw scenes like this:

And the library.

The little school.

A country road passed the monastery. Respectfully, I’m not posting pics of the buildings or personal spaces, but the setting carried me away.

And on a biological preserve, this surprise gem:

When we boarded the next ferry, my mind hummed with ideas to for my new novel. (Did I tell you it’s set in those islands?)

And when we docked at San Juan Island? More on that later.

*****

Meanwhile . . .

For you EASTERN WASHINGTON FRIENDS, I hope we can connect when I’m in the Palouse this coming week! On Thursday, 10/24, I’ll be signing books at Tick’s in Colfax from 10-noon am. Stop by the store and say hi?

And if you’re in their broadcast area, listen in at 1:00 pm on Friday, 10/25, when I’ll be in Spokane for an interview with Annie on The Page Turner Show at KYRS Community Radio. We won’t be there long, but I hope to visit a few bookstores before we return to the Colfax/Penawawa area (Leaning on Air’s main setting) where we’ll roam those fabulous hills and catch up with long-time friends. I’d love to see you if you’re nearby. Write me?

*****

Speaking of Leaning on Air, for five more days, the ebook will be on sale for $1.99 most everywhere. It’s companion Sugar Birds is currently available for $3.99, though I’m not sure for how long.

If you like the books, consider putting them under your Christmas tree? I’m told they’re bullseye gifts for men and women alike. Sugar Birds has been devoured by teens, too.

Here’s what Washington State Magazine’s associate editor had to say about Leaning on Air: If you’re curious for more, there’s a Q & A link at the bottom.

Leaning on Air

Reviewed by Adriana Janovich

Twelve years have passed since Celia has seen Burnaby. She immediately notes how much the quiet, bone-hunting boy has changed. He has his doctorate now, along with a more refined set of social skills, and is about to start his career as a professor of veterinary medicine at Washington State University. She has her doctorate, too. Her specialty: birds.

Celia agrees to road-trip with Burnaby from rural Whatcom County, where they met as teens in 1985 in Cheryl Grey (Hobson) Bostrom’s 2021 debut novel Sugar Birds, to WSU and the rolling hills of the Palouse. Most of the story takes place in this landscape, and Bostrom’s lyrical descriptions of it will resonate with those familiar with Pullman and its environs. It might even make them nostalgic for it.

Her poetic prose is chock-full of Evergreen State imagery and references⁠—bald eagles, Nanaimo bars, the salty seaweed scent of the sound, Anthony’s at Squalicum Harbor, Spokane’s Riverfront Park, the Snake River, a pocket of unspoiled Palouse prairie. Palouse prairie restoration is a sub-theme in this compelling sequel, which solidly stands on its own merit.

Leaning on Air is told from multiple perspectives⁠—mostly those of Celia and Burnaby. His little sister, Agate or “Aggie,” a wildlife photographer, makes a brief but important appearance in this volume, too.

Leaning on Air is a captivating story of spirituality and science, wind and wildfire, hardship and harvest, and the meaning of marriage. At its heart, it’s a love story. Expect exquisite writing, romance, mystery, tragedy, healing, and threads of Christian contemplation.

Bostrom plays with time, too, opening her story in 1997, then skipping ahead to 2008, when Celia is 39 and a professor at the University of Idaho. In between, readers encounter the pain of three generations of women, family secrets, loss, and, most of all, hope.

Love on the Palouse: Q&A with author Cheryl Grey Bostrom

📙 GIVEAWAY NEWS:

Last week’s winner of LINES is PATRICIA BATE! Congratulations, Patricia! Please reply with your postal address and I’ll send the book right off to you.

THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY for my (free) subscribers : To Mimi’s House We Go. A newly released children’s book by novelist Susan Meissner, it’s a true holiday treat—and a wonderful gift for kiddos and those who love them.

Here’s the gist:

Join bestselling author Susan Meissner and other "Mimis" in this Christmas-season poem inspired by the traditional holiday traveling song "Over the River and Through the Woods." Modern families find their way to grandmother's house using a variety of vehicles to celebrate with Mimis, Omas, Gigis, and Nanas.

This sweet Christmas story

• is for boys and girls 4 to 8 years old and grandmothers of all names and types;

• explores the different modern modes of transport used to take Christmas journeys;

• features rhyming text resembling traditional carols and folksongs; and

• celebrates the unique ways families celebrate Christmas while showing the common threads of food, family, and love in them all.

To Mimi's House We Go combines the magic of Christmastime with sweet memories of time with Grandma in an adventurous romp through country and city, from coast to coast.

***

Subscribers . . . Reply by Friday, November 1 with MIMI somewhere in your message or subject line and your name will go in the hat. I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, Nov 2—two weeks from today.

AND, if you’d like to meet Susan in person, come to Village Books in Fairhaven, WA on Saturday, December 7, between 10:00 and noon. She’ll be signing copies of this engaging gem.

Whew. This letter’s a LONG one . . . I’m older since I started writing it. I think I’ll call my new wrinkles wisecracks.

God’s blessings and love to each of you,

Cheryl