Family. Faith. Stability. Chosenness. Who suffers when these ideals are exploited by powerful patriarchs? Keep Sweet traces Elizabeth’s path of resistance as she navigates the Prophet’s terrible maze of expectations and discovers the shocking complicity of his accomplices within their religious community. Escape may be dangerous, but Waddle’s insightful novel shows how a young woman’s disruptive questions can uncover (and recover) surprising allies along the way. Together, they reach for—and find—a healing future where autonomy and interdependence, curiosity and kindness, can co-exist without fear.
Jo Scott-Coe is the author of Unheard Witness: The Life and Death of Kathy Leissner Whitman (University of Texas Press)
Here is preorder link for the publisher, Inlandia Books (the Inlandia Institute, a literary nonprofit)
In her chapbook memoir, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans, Victoria Waddle explores her (our) relationship with dogs, the joy and comfort of their companionship, and the lessons they can teach us about being better humans. By sharing her memories of Fletcher and Zainy, she shows everyone else what dog people already know: that dogs are individuals (with specific personalities, quirks, and anxieties, just like the rest of us) and how our relationship with them changes from one dog to the next. She shows how it is through their interaction with dogs that the truth of a person is revealed. This book is an examination of our responsibility to those we love, and the (sometimes impossible) difficulty of taking care of them, especially those who are beyond our communication. Waddle captures the pain of deciding when, exactly, a dog is suffering more than living and, in comparison, forces the reader to wonder why we allow our beloved elderly to suffer more than our beloved pets. Dog people, as they read this book, will instantly get it. Cat people will get it. Non pet owners, those poor lost souls, will get it (and they might even be converted).
—Tim Hatch, poet and author of Wild Embrace
Available from the publisher, Bamboo Dart Press, from Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes and Noble.
“ Acts of Contrition is a great collection, one I read in a single sitting, the stories sly and engaging, hilariously dark and always surprising. The women of Victoria Waddle’s fiction are characters I’d spend much more time with – they are brutally honest, have excellent talents at remembering, and they soldier on with grace and humor and wine.”
—Susan Straight, author of eight novels, including Highwire Moon, and one memoir, In the Country of Women
Available from from the publisher, Los Nietos Press, from Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes and Noble.