We all hold up a mirror to ourselves to make sense of the past, examine our present and develop dreams for the future. In Water Mask , Monica Devine maps out a life in Alaska that explores issues of the human heart: fear, spiritual longing, memory, perception, loss and wonder. She skis woodland trails with her baby on her back, navigates sea ice with Beaufort Sea whalers, and flies close to the ground in rogue weather with a rookie bush pilot. She negotiates the death of her father and the near loss of her cabin on the shape-shifting Copper River. In these captivating stories, Monica reflects on family, the importance of place, her work in Alaska Native villages, and more....all told against the background of a cold northern landscape that both rejects and beguiles. Sample Chapters :*When Mountains Agitate the Wind*On the Edge of Ice*Many Things Were Visible When the Earth Was Thin*The Inside Passage*Mission of Motherhood*Ode to Alaska's Native Women In Water Mask , Monica Devine explores the unmapped edges of the human spirit with the same poet's eye that she describes her raw encounters with the natural world. This is a book to be savored, the way one might sip the first rays of sunshine cresting the peaks of the Chugach Range. Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan, author of Canyons and Ice and Our Perfect Wild Picture Alaska--her braided rivers and Arctic tundra, her tidal shorelines and thrashing salmon. Water Mask captures these Alaska experiences alongside stories of New Mexico deserts, Wyoming horses, and family--making accessible through lyrical essays this remarkable American landscape. -Page Lambert, author of I n Search of Kinship and Shifting Stars Monica Devine is an award-winning author and artist.  She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, winner of the Alaska State Poetry contest and her writing and photographs have appeared in both literary journals and anthologies. Among her works are five children's books, including  Iditarod: The Greatest Win Ever,  a nominee for the celebrated Golden Kite award.