RECENT REVIEWS:

• The Laws of Eleanor: Reviewed by Cate Gable for The Chinook Observer/Long Beach, WA
• Portrait of Peninsula Woman: Reviewed by Gayle Borchard Independent Books, Inc. Long Beach, WA
• When Lois Lane Sings: Reviewed by Gayle Borchard Independent Books, Inc. Long Beach, WA
• About the Author: Written by Brenda Miles, Vancouver, WA., and Gayle Borchard of Long Beach, WA.

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I have listened to the stories other women told me for a long time now. Some of these women I have known since I was born. Some I met just in passing and probably will never see again. Wherever we were when we met and however long we journeyed together, we always shared one thing in common. Story.

They told me stories of courage, hope, love, disappointment, commitment, fear, determination, sometimes with tears, but almost always with laughter, as they dug deep down into the marrow of their lives to tell me some little anecdote about the pithy part.

As I learned to say when I was growing up in Kentucky, I’m beholden. Where I come from, that means I am obligated to these women for giving me something when I needed it; something they didn’t have to give me if they didn’t want to; something I can never ever really repay, but will die trying.

All of us have stories to share, and all of us are beholden to each other. Here are some of those stories.