Woman Alone: A Farmhouse Journal

Reeling from a divorce after 20 years of marriage, aspiring writer Burdick held a full-time job as she helped care for her dying father. Her only release was in weekend or evening escapes to the family's farm in upper New York State. The house, without plumbing or electricity, and its 70 acres offered Burdick serenity and solitude as she struggled with her parents' suffering, with relationships to her children and with her efforts to write. Revealing despair, elation and self-recognition, Burdick ( Stop Calling Me Mr. Darling! ) gives a moving account of her father's death and a sensitive portrait of a family under stress. Readers will find her journal inspiring. (Oct.)