Stalking the Wild Heart

Deanna Barnhardt Kawatski

Gracesprings Collective, September 2009

ISBN  978-0-9809608-3-9  $28.00

In her debut novel Deanna Barnhardt Kawatski weaves a rich wilderness tale that begins in 1970 and involves two childhood friends, Emily and Rachel. Emily remains in their northern hometown while Rachel sets out for Europe. The focus is on Emily and her quest for wholeness, which leads her, at the age of twenty, back to a wilderness home in the company of Sam, a man she meets while working in a mining camp. An early tragedy forced her family to flee, and now at last she has the chance to return and to learn answers to questions that have haunted her her whole life.

“Deanna Barnhardt Kawatski’s beautifully written novel launches us into the world of her previous memoirs, Wilderness Mother and Clara and Me. She again paints the vivid beauty of nature, this time through the eyes of Emily, a dedicated homesteader. Kawatski captures our hearts, minds, and souls in the aching story of a woman who must save herself from an abusive relationship while pitting herself against

corporate ‘stalkers’ who would destroy the wilderness she loves. The story is cast against a setting of such grandeur and awe-inspiring creation, that each page literally turns itself in honour of Kawatski’s riveting authorship.”  Bette Shippam

Deanna Barnhardt Kawatski was born in Salmon Arm, and grew up in Kamloops. She has lived in Berlin, Paris, and London and also spent thirteen years as a pioneering mother in the wilderness of Northern B.C. Fiddlehead Press published Bird, Bubble and Stream, a book of her poetry. Other books include best-selling Wilderness Mother and Clara and Me, a Hubert Evans Award nominee. Deanna’s stories have appeared in many magazines including Harrowsmith, Mother Earth News, and Country Journal. Several of her stories have also been anthologized, most recently in Imagining British Columbia.