In the midst of great change and sudden disasters, as bulldozers ravage the orchards of Napa and old friends die, Lauren Coodley writes of the stubborn determination of ordinary women to lead lives of beauty and meaning in passionate, lyrical poems of mourning, courage, persistence, survival, and celebration.

. . . I read a little at a time, savoring bright epiphanies. Lauren Coodley has a fine sense of rhythm and timing, but more importantly she has a sense of moments passing, flashbulbs of joy, of sorrow and of shame. She draws the reader into the work, letting them squeeze the grape of each line and savor the “sweet juice to wash the dirt down.”