Chipped

What's a talisman to do when his human dies and he finds himself in the hands of someone she loved, but he can't stand?

Chip lived in Isabelle's pocket for 25 years. He was her talisman-that little voice in her head that gave her the courage to travel from the slopes of Kilimanjaro to the beaches of Southern France and beyond. When she's killed in a tragic accident, their magical bond unravels. Shared memories fade. Without his beloved human, Chip fears he'll become nothing but a silent lump of stone.
Isabelle's niece Sara lives on the family farm under the strict control of her husband. Chip awakens one day to find he's been shipped to her in a box of Isabelle's belongings. Still grief stricken, he's yearning for Isabelle's voice and only pays attention to Sara because she sneaks into one of Isabelle's journals to escape her own bleak existence.
This isn't the life Isabelle would've wanted for Sara, but Chip isn't her talisman. He couldn't help even if he wanted to; she can't hear him.
Sharing Isabelle's words, however, might just give them both the strength they need to carry on.

From the author of Trusting Bamboo Bridges comes Chipped, another poignant story of love, loss, and the struggle to find one's own path.

After twelve years roaming the planet, both as a solo backpacker and an aid worker with Médecins sans Frontières, Katherine's been left with a bookshelf cluttered with photo albums and journals. Tattered diaries full of the thrills, loneliness, joy and grief that come with such travels, and the seeds of exotic tales just waiting for their moments to sprout.

Now co-owner of Rendezvous Dive Adventures Ltd, she's settled in a remote corner of Vancouver Island, Canada with her husband Peter, her dog Sam, Bug the cat, and a menagerie of wild critters (all with names). She's a proud member of SiWC's Table 30 writer's group and, thanks to her work with MSF, is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Bookshelf gardening efforts to date include a cookbook Rendezvous in Kathy's Kitchen, and her first novel Trusting Bamboo Bridges. And yes, she has a stone hippo named Chip.