The True Point of Beginning

About the Book

The True Point of Beginning chronicles Barbara Bedell's journey through the first five years following the sudden death of her husband Bruce in April 2002. Using letters and poems from friends and entries from her own journal, Bedell recalls a period of time in her life that started with profound grief and loss and that concluded with hope reinforced by the kindness and generosity of the people who loved and supported her throughout this most difficult of ordeals. Bedell relies on extended detail to reinforce her awareness, expressed through the words of a close friend, that "loss-genuine, grievous loss-is something we encounter not on the philosophical level but on the molecular level."

About the Author

Born in 1947 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Barbara Bedell moved frequently until she married and spent almost 30 years of her life in Sioux City, Iowa where she taught literature and college writing at Morningside College. Bedell moved with her late husband Bruce to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State in the winter of 2001. She still lives in the home they built together with her Norwegian Elkhound „Frosty.‰ The True Point of Beginning is BedellÊs first book.