First lines of the book:
This is a story I never thought I would tell. It is the story of a love, the love I shared with a man who came into my life almost surreptitiously, a man who loved me in the most complete way and then died. If he had not died, I would not be telling this story...
Here are some comments from readers about this book:
From The Stacks
By Wicky Sleight, Director of the Kirkwood Public Library
A wonderful, moving book, Elegy for Iris by John Bayley, was on my reading list this
month. It is Bayley's memoir of his wife,
novelist Iris Murdoch, and her battle with Alzheimer's. It reminds me of two of my all-time personal favorites, Philip Roth's Patrimony and Edie Clark's The Place He Made.
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“I have read your book, The Place He Made, and it has touched me deeply, especially as there were amazing parallels between your relationship and my own, your life and my own. Your story has made me even more aware of how strong my relationship is with my husband and how much love we have and how much we have grown in the past decade that we have been together. It is a great book and an even greater story and I wish you luck with your writings to come.”
Sue E.
Christchurch, New Zealand
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“I am currently reading “The Place He Made” and it is a wonderful story. I have been dealing with breast cancer for 6 years and I can really relate to what you both went through. My heart is open to you and know that I am sending love and good thoughts to you. Blessings.”
Irene Jeffries
Irene@loosedog.org
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"Recently a dear friend of mine lent me his copy of "The Place He Made". I started reading is that night before bed and stopped when my eyes wouldn't work anymore. The next day, I dove right in again and didn't stop until I reached the almost end when Paul passes. I stopped there. I couldn't bear for your story to end and I knew it was coming. I wanted to know the rest of the story, what would you do without him every day? What would your life be like from then on? I waited and wondered almost a week before I could bring myself to finish the story. It finally dawned on me that I could let you know how much joy you have brought into my life and for how long I've awaited your stories each month. I keep my subscription to Yankee mostly for your column. I can't wait to read your next two books! If I were a publisher, I would certainly take them on!
Laura Robertson
Greenwich, New York
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"I am writing to tell you how touched I was while reading your beautiful book, THE PLACE HE MADE. It was recommended to me by a member of MPIP (Melanoma Patient Information Page) message board, so I ordered it online. Once I began reading it, I was hard pressed to put it down. I finished reading it yesterday. I have Stage III Melanoma, diagnosed last summer and am going through treatment at this time. . . . Now that I've tasted of your writing and found I so much enjoy your writing style, I long to read everything of your creation that I can put my hands on. I will begin immediately."
Jeanne Miller
Wimberley TX
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"I just finished "The Place He Made" and found your website. I enjoyed this book so very much. I am not an everyday reader of books, very seldom do I actually sit down and read a book. I won your book on E-Bay when searching for melanoma related things. See, I am a Stage 3 Melanoma patient. Diagnosed 8 weeks after the delivery of my second child. I am in a clinical trial for treatment. I will inform all my melanom friends that a good read I found. Thank you for writing this story and using the word melanoma."
Stephanie Lynde
crabbieone@comecast.net
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"Thank you for such a beautiful and touching story of your husband Paul. What a special man he was."
Sandrine Gabriel
San Diego CA
The complete work entitled Monadnock Tales is the result of a collaboration between composer Larry Siegel and writer Edie Clark. Together they created a work that arises from and reflects a love of the mountain and the Monadnock Region. Edie Clark’s words start and end with the mountain itself, a “great gray granite blade.” Along the way they tell of wolves and fires, farmers and pilgrims – the many who have written, painted, sung, danced, and climbed the mountain.
The work’s debut performance was performed in May of 2002 by the Keene Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Eric Stumacher and narrated by Lewis Feldstein. A second, encore performance was performed in March of 2003. Several performances have been done more recently in smaller venues. The poems in this book are the complete, unabridged words of this work, a celebration of Mt. Monadnock, the place known to Ralph Waldo Emerson as “Cheshire’s haughty hill” and to countless others as home. We would love to talk with you about a performance in your area.
Now available: A CD of the premier performance of this innovative work, performed by the Keene Chamber Orchestra. The CD is available for $16.
What There Was Not To Tell
My parents died in 1994, leaving me more than two thousand letters, written during World War II. To some extent, I knew the story of Tom but the letters allowed me to understand him within the context of that war, which I had never understood nor known much about. The name of the book comes from the fact that, whenever I asked my father to tell me about the war, he would answer, “There’s nothing much to tell.” The letters told me a great deal that my parents did not, not only about themselves but about that war and war, in general. Through reading the letters, I came to believe that my generation was deeply affected by World War II, without ever really knowing it. The silence of our fathers (and mothers) may be from unprocessed grief and the famous “generation gap” may have been a direct effect of our fathers’ service coupled with their inability to articulate what that had meant and how much (many) had been lost to accomplish what they did.
The book is in the form of an odyssey, finding not only Tom’s final (of four) resting place but also the description of his death, reconstructed from Air Corps records and memories of those who fought nearby. I use extracts of the letters to give voice to both my father and mother, as well as to Tom. These extracts are interspersed with my memories, thoughts and revelations as I make this journey into a past I never knew.
