The Sheep Walker's Daughter

Praise from readers

“Avey has an artist’s gift for using strong visual language, and a counselor’s gift for describing the conditions of her characters’ hearts.”

“Explores complex relationships between richly developed characters. I loved the bits of wisdom, poetic analogies, and unexpected twists.”

Does it really matter where you come from?

In 1953, a war widow’s difficult mother dies before revealing the identity of her daughter’s father and his cultural heritage. As Dee sorts through what little her mother left, she unearths puzzling clues that raise more questions: Why did Leora send money every month to the Basque Relief Agency? Why is her own daughter so secretive about her soon-to-be published book? And what does an Anglican priest know that he isn’t telling? All of this head-spinning mystery breaks a long, dry period in Dee’s life and leads her to embark on an odyssey. She might just as well lose her job and see where the counsel of her new spiritual advisor and the attentions of an enigmatic ex-coworker lead her. The Sheep Walker’s Daughter pairs a colorful Basque immigrant history of loss, survival, and tough choices with one woman’s search for identity and fulfillment. Dee’s journey will take her through the Northern and Central California valleys of the 1950s and reach across the world to the Basque Country. Along the way, she will discover who she is and why family history matters.

ISBN 978-1-877802-84-8