When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice

By: Terry Tempest Williams

Narrated by: Terry Tempest Williams

The beloved author of Refuge returns with a work that explodes and startles, illuminates and celebrates.

Terry Tempest Williams's mother told her: "I am leaving you all my journals, but you must promise me you won't look at them until after I'm gone."

Fans of Williams's iconic and unconventional memoir, Refuge, well remember that mother. She was a member of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah who developed cancer as a result of the nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. It was a shock to Williams to discover that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as what she found when the time came to read them.

They were exactly where she said they would be: three shelves of beautiful cloth-bound books.... "I opened the first journal. It was empty. I opened the second journal. It was empty. I opened the third. It too was empty.... Shelf after shelf after shelf, all of my mother's journals were blank."

What did Williams's mother mean by that? In 54 chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with its own logic and beauty, Williams creates a lyrical and caring meditation of the mystery of her mother's journals. When Women Were Birds is a kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question "What does it mean to have a voice?"

©2012 Terry Tempest Williams (P)2012 Wind Over The Earth

The best thing I have ever "read"

When Women Were Birds is....
- A soulful story of the brave in Terry Tempest Williams that nourishes the brave in us all.
- Truth written without apology or antagonism, honesty that shatters shame and elevates courage.
- Beauty beyond words, William's ability to hold pain and pleasure at the same time, shows a way forward in the world where we too can be more than one thing at the same time. Where we might be stronger and softer and more authentic to ourselves and one another.

I will listen to this again and again.

Poetic and compelling

Beautifully written and read. I will listen again to make sure I caught every lovely phrase and idea.

Loved this

Did not disappoint! Beautiful writing, the reader does a great job. I love how the author dives deeper into her own personal stories as the book progresses. 

Breathtaking!

A privilege to listen. A privilege to share the depth of this exquisite woman. I want to begin again so she stays in my life and honors my/our humanity.

Profound and Beautiful

Loved it!! 'When the student is ready, the teacher will appear...' Tao Te Ching