SHOW HER A FLOWER, A BIRD, A SHADOW
Order the book
SPD | WTAW Press | IndieBound | Powell's | Barnes & Noble | Amazon
|| Get a signed copy ||
Order the book
SPD | WTAW Press | IndieBound | Powell's | Barnes & Noble | Amazon
|| Get a signed copy ||
* INDIES 2017 Book of the Year in Literary Fiction
* Poets & Writers second annual "5 over 50"
* Eric Hoffer Award Honorable Mention
* Eric Hoffer First Horizons Award Short List Finalist
* Pushcart Prize Nominee
Praise
What intense bits of insight these are—dramas, both painful and lyrical, are captured in these superb concentrations of prose, with their flashes of brilliant detail. An original book, with a long, shimmering after-effect.
--Joan Silber, author of Improvement and Secrets of Happiness
To call this volume "slim" would be a mistake. It is rich in the way of poetry—lyric intensity applied to the small wonders of the world—and resonant in the way of music, summoning again and again the mysterious visceral response from its reader. Many of these sentences ("I wished it would rain, to quench something," for instance) are running repeatedly through my mind, like noteworthy and unforgettable songs.
--Antonya Nelson, author of Funny Once and Bound
A gorgeous parade of narratives where every sentence is an insight, and every paragraph a mosaic that turns broken shards of language into poetry. I read Show Her the way you read in a dream, the way you see that flickering in the corner of your eye which means you're haunted. Highly recommended.
--Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside
What a pleasure to read Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow. In story after story Peg Alford Pursell creates vivid characters and piercing situations. Nothing is too small for her imagination—a wren on a branch, a hole in a sock, ginger tea--and nothing too dangerous—a girl hit by a stone, a mother and daughter struggling. In a matter of a few words, a few lines, Pursell transports us into vivid situations of loss and longing. This is a dazzling and lovely collection.
--Margot Livesey, author of Mercury and The Flight of Gemma Hardy
With precise beauty and unsparing wisdom, Peg Alford Pursell shows us “Anything can happen: anytime.” The dead resurrect in fragments of memory, kindness is necessary courage, lives dissolve, reshape, renew, and another’s hand will imprint on us its lesson in brokenness or its blessing of love as we fly into and out of the cages of our temporal selves. Show Her a Flower, a Bird, a Shadow is a small but fiercely sacred book, immense in its gifts.
--Melissa Pritchard, author of A Solemn Pleasure and Palmerino
I've always firmly believed that the amount of words a story contains has zero to do with how much weight the story carries. Peg Alford Pursell's new book, Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow, proves this once again, and proves it in spades. Read "Circle" or "A Lot to Learn" or "The Girl in the Picture" or "My Descent"—and many more—and you'll see what I mean. These stories are like gut checks to the soul.
--Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here? and Love and Shame and Love
"Peg Alford Pursell writes beautifully and evocatively about both the world around us and the one within. Her prose is spare, her observations keen, her heart fully on display. Show Her a Flower, a Bird, a Flower is striking debut from a great new writer."
--Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me
Reading this book is like walking through a snowfall of petals—and thorns. There is a light airy feeling to Peg Alford Pursell's delicately worded fragments that is seductive, at first, until you realize that each swirl contains small stabs of loss and pain and violence. A really beautiful, unique collection.
--Molly Giles, author of In All the Wrong Places and Iron Shoes
Reviews
"These pieces beautifully enact the effort to contain and comprehend intense emotions and experiences. What happens when circumstances—such as those of family, culture, or violence—prevent us from expressing or acting upon what we feel?"
--Chloe Martinez, RHINO
"Pursell’s rich images and musicality still leave plenty of space to imprint one’s experience while savoring the characters’ seductive gravitational slide through time, space, hurt, and heart. "
--Sara Fitzpatrick Comito, Bending Genres
"Pursell's honesty encompasses not only the truths that aren't told, but the ones that can't be known, and yet touch our lives all the same . . ."
--Libby Maxwell, Mom Egg Review
". . . her work is not a saccharine, cloying, or emotive nibble. Instead her pieces are like a well-aged scotch. You could take each of these narratives as a shot but doing so would miss the point of slowly savoring the complexity."
--Nicholas Alexander Hayes, Your Impossible Voice
". . . this book packs a poetic punch. Its images and lines linger, and it deserves to be read slowly and mulled over. "
--Rebecca Foster, Bookish Beck
"Her writing blends the meticulously chosen language of poetry with the urgency of the ultra-short prosaic form. Many of these stories will leave you wondering, and wanting more. Read together, they form unexpected connections. Each one blossoms, but disappears just as quickly as it opens."
--Heather Scott Partington, Entropy Magazine
* Poets & Writers second annual "5 over 50"
* Eric Hoffer Award Honorable Mention
* Eric Hoffer First Horizons Award Short List Finalist
* Pushcart Prize Nominee
Praise
What intense bits of insight these are—dramas, both painful and lyrical, are captured in these superb concentrations of prose, with their flashes of brilliant detail. An original book, with a long, shimmering after-effect.
--Joan Silber, author of Improvement and Secrets of Happiness
To call this volume "slim" would be a mistake. It is rich in the way of poetry—lyric intensity applied to the small wonders of the world—and resonant in the way of music, summoning again and again the mysterious visceral response from its reader. Many of these sentences ("I wished it would rain, to quench something," for instance) are running repeatedly through my mind, like noteworthy and unforgettable songs.
--Antonya Nelson, author of Funny Once and Bound
A gorgeous parade of narratives where every sentence is an insight, and every paragraph a mosaic that turns broken shards of language into poetry. I read Show Her the way you read in a dream, the way you see that flickering in the corner of your eye which means you're haunted. Highly recommended.
--Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside
What a pleasure to read Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow. In story after story Peg Alford Pursell creates vivid characters and piercing situations. Nothing is too small for her imagination—a wren on a branch, a hole in a sock, ginger tea--and nothing too dangerous—a girl hit by a stone, a mother and daughter struggling. In a matter of a few words, a few lines, Pursell transports us into vivid situations of loss and longing. This is a dazzling and lovely collection.
--Margot Livesey, author of Mercury and The Flight of Gemma Hardy
With precise beauty and unsparing wisdom, Peg Alford Pursell shows us “Anything can happen: anytime.” The dead resurrect in fragments of memory, kindness is necessary courage, lives dissolve, reshape, renew, and another’s hand will imprint on us its lesson in brokenness or its blessing of love as we fly into and out of the cages of our temporal selves. Show Her a Flower, a Bird, a Shadow is a small but fiercely sacred book, immense in its gifts.
--Melissa Pritchard, author of A Solemn Pleasure and Palmerino
I've always firmly believed that the amount of words a story contains has zero to do with how much weight the story carries. Peg Alford Pursell's new book, Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow, proves this once again, and proves it in spades. Read "Circle" or "A Lot to Learn" or "The Girl in the Picture" or "My Descent"—and many more—and you'll see what I mean. These stories are like gut checks to the soul.
--Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here? and Love and Shame and Love
"Peg Alford Pursell writes beautifully and evocatively about both the world around us and the one within. Her prose is spare, her observations keen, her heart fully on display. Show Her a Flower, a Bird, a Flower is striking debut from a great new writer."
--Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me
Reading this book is like walking through a snowfall of petals—and thorns. There is a light airy feeling to Peg Alford Pursell's delicately worded fragments that is seductive, at first, until you realize that each swirl contains small stabs of loss and pain and violence. A really beautiful, unique collection.
--Molly Giles, author of In All the Wrong Places and Iron Shoes
Reviews
"These pieces beautifully enact the effort to contain and comprehend intense emotions and experiences. What happens when circumstances—such as those of family, culture, or violence—prevent us from expressing or acting upon what we feel?"
--Chloe Martinez, RHINO
"Pursell’s rich images and musicality still leave plenty of space to imprint one’s experience while savoring the characters’ seductive gravitational slide through time, space, hurt, and heart. "
--Sara Fitzpatrick Comito, Bending Genres
"Pursell's honesty encompasses not only the truths that aren't told, but the ones that can't be known, and yet touch our lives all the same . . ."
--Libby Maxwell, Mom Egg Review
". . . her work is not a saccharine, cloying, or emotive nibble. Instead her pieces are like a well-aged scotch. You could take each of these narratives as a shot but doing so would miss the point of slowly savoring the complexity."
--Nicholas Alexander Hayes, Your Impossible Voice
". . . this book packs a poetic punch. Its images and lines linger, and it deserves to be read slowly and mulled over. "
--Rebecca Foster, Bookish Beck
"Her writing blends the meticulously chosen language of poetry with the urgency of the ultra-short prosaic form. Many of these stories will leave you wondering, and wanting more. Read together, they form unexpected connections. Each one blossoms, but disappears just as quickly as it opens."
--Heather Scott Partington, Entropy Magazine
