Secret Histories: Stories of Courage, Risk, and Revelation

Step into the secret lives of 25 writers . . . and witness the stories that shape us.

Open the pages of Secret Histories to explore pivotal experiences in the lives of 25 writers. Share a life-or-death moment as a woman hitchhiker faces an angry, explosive driver. Climb to a sacred Tibetan mountain pass on a pilgrimage to renewal—and discover the cost of choosing life as a healer. Witness grief mixed with deep joy as a sister chooses to be her dying brother's caretaker. Flinch at a young woman’s shock as she discovers her father is a CIA spook. Watch the world shrink into a nightmare existence through the eyes of a young Japanese-American girl imprisoned in an American concentration camp during World War II.

These are just some of the powerful experiences that, when gathered in a single book, turn individual pools of wisdom into an ocean of knowing. Secret Histories captures the many faces of understanding, acceptance, and love. Self-discovery is never a solitary journey. To find our way, we depend upon the hard-earned wisdom of others who are brave enough to expose their deepest truths. As a guide to help readers navigate their own way through difficult situations and choices, Secret Histories offers rich insights into what it means to accept our limits and to transcend our greatest challenges.

Praise for Secret Histories:

“How moving to see a group of writers pressing so relentlessly toward truth. The voices gathered here are by turns funny, searing, contemplative, and wildly imaginative, but they’re all united by one thing: the urge to peel back the layers of everyday existence and find the sweet, the difficult, the beautiful reality at the heart of things.”

—Claire Dederer, author of Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses

“These gifted and generous authors bring to the page courage, risk, and revelation, but also something much larger. By breaking the silence, they 
allow us to believe that we are not alone in our wonderments, failures, and confusions. They give us permission to share our own stories, to leave a map of true experience so that others might find their way.”

—Kim Barnes, author of In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country

Under the leadership of well-recognized author and teacher Brenda Peterson, a group of 25 Northwest writers, known collectively as the Salish Sea Writers, has created a collection of personal stories that offer intimate glimpses into the events and relationships that indelibly mark our lives. The authors in the group have varied lives that include professions such as holistic healer, artist, neuroscientist, journalist, farmer, global leadership coach, psychotherapist, high-tech designer, editor, musician, marketing communications executive, Aikido instructor, and anthropologist. Almost all of these writers have published widely in a variety of fields. The Secret Histories memoirs showcase pivotal experiences in each writer’s life.