Just Breathe Normally by Peggy Shumaker

“Shumaker displays a rare gift. . . . [H]er scattered memories come together to form a riveting and exceptionally touching story. . . . An entrancing meditation on absolution and memory.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Painful healing from a freak bicycle accident burns at the heart of this collection of lyrical anecdotes. . . . Shumaker’s prose possesses throughout a limpid serenity.” —Publishers Weekly

“Shumaker, a poet, has a haunting, lyrical quality to her writing. The words flow and tumble down the page. . . . Reading about pain and loss and fear can be almost as traumatic as experiencing it, and while Shumaker doesn’t dance around it, she writes in such a way that the reader is compelled to follow. . . . Just Breathe Normally is a deft example of using the past to understand and overcome the present.”—Libbie Martin, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner