Light in Blue Shadows

By Edie Hartshorne

Book Overview

In times of crisis, loss and suffering, how can we continue to live with a clear mind and a peaceful heart? Can adversity offer unexpected gifts? In this spare, translucent memoir, Edie Hartshorne... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0978869907
• ISBN13: 9780978869908
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Ellsberg Books
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Life at its most Real

An extraordinary book! Edie Hartshorne gives a vivid description of her horror at the news of her son's unexpected death, poetically shares her feelings and thoughts through the depths of grief, and then brings us through to her resurgence as more fully alive, more fully attuned to the love and philosophical beauty in the world.

Light In Blue Shadows

"Light in Blue Shadows" is a jewel-like recounting of Edie Hartshorne's immense journey through the darkness of her son's apparent suicide, as she emerges back into life. Her story, so tenderly written, so personal, makes me appreciate my own life more, and awakens that sometimes slippery knowledge that we are strong, resilient beings who seek light. She organically sieved from her days and her interactions the glimmers of light and reminders of life that came her way. And, somehow, her intractable grief did, in fact, transform. It is a miracle, it is a mystery, and she has thankfully chronicled it lest we ever forget that it is possible. I can see that I can use her book as a resource for myself as a reminder of this precious truth. Her choice to write each offering in succinct, pointed bits was brilliant, as I was able to steep in each event, thought, or letter, as a meditation, or a poem. As haiku reverberates through spaciousness, so do each of Edie's chapters. With honesty, humor, and a very gifted and real voice, Edie Hartshorne has offered a personal and universal experience of loss of a beloved.

A Love Story

Light in Blue Shadows shares what the author went through upon the unexpected death of her twenty year old son--from the first blow through the purification of intense suffering to eventual spiritual expansion (the awesome journey we all must take sooner or later). This is a beautiful and deep book, gripping from the start, and so naturally--exquisitely--written. Many passages are pure poetry--are pure--and bring a lot of tears. It is very attentive, very sensitive, and very very intelligent. It has a big range. All that the author knows of life had a place to manifest here. The book is really a life memoir, as well as a diary of her mourning for her son Jonathan. I appreciated the shifting kaleidoscope of family and generations Hartshorne creates, and that each person who appears is seen as a jewel. The story of her adopted daughter Joemy, alongside her own grieving through letters to her son, creates a sense of balance and wholeness: Joemy who is farther along in overcoming her losses, Edie who is being undone by hers and only beginning to reintegrate. Light in Blue Shadows is a Love story. One certainly feels the mother's wide open heart--opened by suffering--and her insuppressible joie de vivre too. And I was left with the feeling that her son had lived a very blessed life. This costly story is a gift and a blessing for all. I'm sure this book is going to have a long life. --Janine Canan MD, author and psychiatrist

A Portrait of Courage, Mercy, and Transformation

Edie Hartshorne's memoir "Light in Blue Shadows" overflows with gracious tenderness, courage, and mercy. It is at once a testament to a mother's love for her family, and for life; an openly told, deep, and plainly spoken tale of loss; and a generous gift of witness. With delicate, incisive, and astute attention, Hartshorne unfolds her story with forthright grace, honesty, and a pure poetry. Her willingness to express sorrow in its acute, daily, form -with great respect for both the process and the reader- allows us to face pain - hers and our own - with sincere gentleness. When, in time, Hartshorne invites us to walk into the simplicity and intimacy of her garden of self-reflection, we can do so with equal respect, tapping into wells of universal kindness and compassion in the midst, and aftermath, of intense grief. These are lessons that no one can borrow from another. Yet here we are gifted with so many life-giving images and truths that the heart breaks open time and again: First with tears of fear, empathy, and recognition. Then, with the prized tears of clarity, understanding, gratitude, and joy. In her beautiful portrait of love and family, Edie Hartshorne gives us the gift of transformation. This is a book to be cherished and shared with all who seek hope, solace, and courage in the face of death and loss. c 2007 Judith-Kate Friedman

Losing a child

Edie Hartshorne. Light in Blue Shadows If you have lost a child or have a friend who has lost a child, this book is for you. The author recounts the shocking loss of her elder son to what was initially judged a drug-induced suicide. Family and friends found this verdict inexplicable, and after intense research by the young man's father, it was changed to accidental death. But still the author and her family had to deal with a gaping hole in their lives and make sense of their loss. The author tells this story in a sequence of exquisitely drawn vignettes, counterposed with letters directly addressed to her son. These letters are in places pretty raw; there is no attempt in this text to mediate anguish. What one sees instead is an individual and a family drawing on deep roots of culture, both American Quaker and Japanese Buddhist, to work their way forward from the experience of loss to a state of renewed strength. In the process, the author succeeds in calling back the spirit of her son and reintegrating his spirit into her life and the lives of her family and friends. It is a remarkable odyssey that is described in this book. As someone who has also lost a son, I can assure readers that if they persevere with Hartshorne's account they will be richly rewarded by it.