Balsamroot: A Memoir

Melding past and present into a moving narrative, Mary Clearman Blew imaginatively recreates the dry, dusty, sparsely populated Montana of the early homesteaders and of her aunt Imogene’s young womanhood. Striving to understand why her aunt chose a life alone, away from the ranch where she grew up, Blew evokes the rigors of her own growing-up years. We witness her yearnings for independence and escape; her own choices regarding marriage, divorce, and single parenthood; and the poignant reconnection with her daughter. A rich and unforgettable blend of intimate reflection, diaries, history, and local legend, Balsamroot reveals one of our top writers at her most personal and compelling.

Melding past and present into a moving narrative, Mary Clearman Blew imaginatively recreates the dry, dusty, sparsely populated Montana of the early homesteaders and of her aunt Imogene's young womanhood. Striving to understand why her aunt chose a life alone, away from the ranch where she grew up, Blew evokes the rigors of her own growing-up years. We witness her yearnings for independence and escape; her own choices regarding marriage, divorce, and single parenthood; and the poignant reconnection with her daughter. A rich and unforgettable blend of intimate reflection, diaries, history, and local legend, Balsamroot reveals one of our top writers at her most personal and compelling.

"Blew mines the repository of her aunt's memoirs and diaries, uncovering near-revelations that suggest Imogene's life was far from what it appeared to be. The memoir is energized by the search and by the author's connectedness to a Montana heritage."—Publishers Weekly

Mary Clearman Blew is Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Idaho, Moscow. She is the author of Bone Deep in Landscape, Balsamroot: A Memoir, Lambing Out And Other Stories (University of Oklahoma Press) and Sister Coyote: Montana Stories and is coeditor of Circle of Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Western Women's Writing.