Edge Seasons: A Mid-life Year

By Beth Powning

From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of The Hatbox Letters and Shadow Child comes the story of a year of transformation.

In the middle years of her life, Beth Powning stands on a threshold: an “edge season.” Late one August, when Beth and her partner, Peter, observe the deserted sauna bath on their farm near Sussex, New Brunswick, she remembers the faith and energy that went into building it. As they begin to repair the sauna, the project becomes a metaphor for how dreams, relationships and commitments need to be continuously renewed. While their only child, Jake, prepares to leave for university, Beth and Peter contemplate changes of their own.

As fall and winter gradually shut down the vibrant life of the gardens, fields and forests near her home, Beth witnesses the beauty and regenerative force of the natural world, weaving acutely observed descriptions of the countryside with the story of her own intimate transformation. Edge Seasons is an intensely absorbing journey that illuminates how change can shatter even as it strengthens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307370952

Beth Powning

Beth Powning grew up in a small New England town, where her family has lived since the 1790s. In 1972, she and her husband Peter Powning moved to Canada and bought an 1870s farm in New Brunswick, where they established a pottery business. In 1995, Beth Powning published a book of photography, Roses for Canadian Gardens (written by childhood friend Bob Osborne). She later found her voice in Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life. Over the next fifteen years, five books followed: another book of photographs, Northern Trees and Shrubs; two works of non-fiction, Shadow Child and Edge Seasons; and three bestselling novels, The Hatbox Letters, The Sea Captain’s Wife, and A Measure of Light.

Reviews for Edge Seasons

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like Beth Powning's work a lot. I suppose that's partly because we're of similar age, class and culture, but more than that, I think she has a similar outlook to me on how to best live life . . . or rather, she has an outlook that I wish I had. She's really done pretty well in life with a successful writing career (although not as successful as she would have hoped, I guess), a loving family (although not without family sadness) and a solid feeling of community and geographic connection. Another of my favourite authors, Elizabeth Hay, declared that 'place is everything' in a novel, and it's clear that Beth Powning takes a similar view. I suppose in Canada you can't avoid the powerful impact of climate & geography on your life, but Beth Powning tells us how she is able to embrace it. The other main aspect of this memoir is that it covers a period up to the departure of Beth's son from the household. The memoir addresses Beth's relationship with her son and her feelings of loss as the son separates from his family, at the same time as knowing that such separation is not only inevitable but desirable. This is also an issue for me in my family, so I found Beth's take on this issue to be valuable. Finally, and related to the son's departure, is Beth's struggle to establish her own identity both as a paid worker and as a creative person in a household full of creativity. I found this material too, to be insightful. I've read all of Beth Powning's extant works now. I hear she has another gestating and I hope it comes to fruition soon.