The
Alchemy of Loss has been long listed for the B.C.
Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, an annual literary prize
worth $40,000. Shortlist to be announced in early December.
Hear
Abigail on The
Agenda with Steve Paikin on Sept 11th, 2008
(aired 8:00pm on TV Ontario).
Hear
Abigail's 20 minute radio interview on Sept 3rd with Seattle's
NPR station: KUOW's
Sound Focus.
Author Magazine Review | Video
Interview
Hear
Abigail's May 9th interview on CBC Radio's Sounds Like Canada
with Shelagh Rodgers. Part
1 | Part 2
(Click here
to download RealPlayer)
“Eloquent
and honest... Reading it is like sitting at your own kitchen
table listening to Abigail Carter’s story, a story that
is unnerving, uplifting and occasionally humorous... remarkable.”
—Globe
and Mail
"She delves deeply into herself and gives us the unvarnished truth about
what she felt... It's a book that will be helpful to people suffering
sudden and terrible loss."
—Niagara This Week
"Ms. Carter is scrupulously honest, not sparing herself or others when
it comes to descriptions of reactions, of situations handled well,
or not so well."
—Peterborough Examiner
"An honest, painfully frank, often sad and sometimes even humourous recounting
of Ms. Carter's journet through grief."
—North Umberland News
"What an eloquent, brave and (even) occasionally comic account Abigail
Carter has given us of her zigzagging odyssey through the country of mourning.
No mourner has it easy, but Carter's tasks were daunting -- to mother two suddenly
fatherless children, to find her own way through the strife that bereavement
brings to her parents and mother-in-law, and to disentangle her personal grief
from the national mourning. Through it all, she is a generous, nuanced and
admirably honest guide."
—Katherine
Ashenburg, author of The Mourner’s
Dance
“A beautiful example of what is possible when we allow suffering to reshape
our idea of happiness.”
—Maria
Housden, author of Hannah's Gift
"MAGNIFICENT! One of the most beautiful, engaging, exquisitely crafted
books I have ever read! Abigail Carter warmly and courageously invites
us into the heart of her intensely private grief - a grief we all shared, but,
perhaps, never tasted so fully until now. THE ALCHEMY OF LOSS is both a vivid
chronicle of an intensely painful moment in history, and a precious insight into
the very real, personal journey of one whose heart was torn open by the events
of September 11, 2001. The writing is superb. The story is riveting. And the
reader is blessed to be offered such a clear depiction of the amazingly resilient
human heart going about its miraculous work of healing - with abundant compassion
- one of the greatest losses a member of the human family can face. BRAVO!" —John
E. Welshons, author of When Prayers Aren't
Answered and Awakening from Grief
"The
Alchemy of Loss is a beautifully written account of one woman's
journey through grief. Anyone who has faced enormous loss is sure
to find some of their experience articulated in Carter's intimate
and candid memoir. It is a book full of tenderness, anger and —ultimately— hope,
and one I imagine one friend will give another in times of hardship
and loss.
—Theo
Pauline Nestor, author of How
to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed
