Where the Tree Falls, the Forest Rises: Stories of Death and Renewal

For Charlene Elderkin, compiling thirty original, first-person essays from twenty-nine different authors brings the kind of solace and breadth of understanding she longed for when facing her own mother’s end-of-life journey at the hands of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Now her experience takes its place alongside those of her fellow authors, the complexity of their collective loss laid bare to expose the power of these personal, life-altering experiences. They offer an intimate glimpse into love and loss and the renewal that follows the death of a loved one. It is not a book about grief, though that is part of the process. No, it is a book about life—and the life that begins anew with death. As courageous and powerful as it is intimate and affecting, Charlene Elderkin’s collection of essays brings comfort and strength at a time full of uncertainty and vulnerability. Between each line of each essay lies the unspoken: we search for some solid ground in a time when it seems to be forever shifting. Giving voice to emotions that seem beyond understanding and articulation, Where the Tree Falls, the Forest Rises is a transformative journey that will change the way you view death and the life that comes after.