Then There Was No Mountain: A Parallel Odyssey of a Mother and Daughter Through Addiction - Tapa dura

Her book should help others who are blindly navigating their way back to health and normalcy. * Publishers Weekly * [A] More must read. * More * Full of honesty, heartbreak, and revelation. * San Jose Mercury News * Only if you have a feel for the written word that is stronger than the heartache you must describe can you deliver a narrative as powerful as Ellen Waterston's. * Oregonian * Waterston's book is a brave undertaking and a gift to us all. * True Story * One of the top 10 Northwest books * Oregonian * An unflinching, honest account of a mother's long struggle to save her troubled daughter. Set against vivid backgrounds of Western and New England landscapes, it is an engrossing story, all the more because many readers will feel a pang of recognition at the hard issues facing contemporary parents, whether they come from tiny, wind-swept ranch towns or affluent east coast cities. . . . A beautiful and compelling book. -- Craig Lesley, author of The Sky Fishermen and Storm Riders The author is my sister. This is the main reason I know about this book, but not the main reason I strongly urge you to get it and read it. It is strong medicine. It is written from the heart, with eyes wide open. -- Sam Waterston, star of NBC's Law & Order If your mission is to lay bare "the parallel odyssey of a mother and daughter through addiction," unfailing, unblinking honesty is your starting line. But only if you have a feel for the written word that is stronger than the heartache you must describe can you deliver a narrative as powerful as [Waterston's]. . . . But the illuminating force of this book is Waterston's pacing, her subtle detail of life on Oregon's High Desert, her metaphors, and her choreography with the language. Perhaps the compelling frankness of Then There Was No Mountain is possible because after years of sever and troubled darkness, pages of honest emotion seem like steps of light. -- Steve Duin, The Oregonian An eloquent, smart, and painful book about the problems every parent faces raising children in America. -- Kent Nelson, author, Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still Then There Was No Mountain is a "must read"! * More Magazine, October Issue * Then There Was No Mountain was chosen as one of the northwest's top ten books of 2003 by The Oregonian, December 28, 2003! Then There Was No Mountain is a book about how one person's substance abuse can turn the lives of loved ones upside down and inside out, requiring drastic self-exploration and extreme intervention for the other family members to recover. -- Lon Woodbury * Woodbury Reports, Inc * Waterston bravely revisits a painful period of her life . . . her book should help others who are blindly navigating, their way back to health and normalcy. * Publishers Weekly * Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer interviewed Ellen Waterston in January 2004 citing Then There Was No Mountain as a must-read.

Sophie was a brilliant child by anyone's definition. Accomplished athlete, 4-H champion, recognized artist, and Western and English horsewoman. By the age of sixteen she had added one more 'achievement' to her resume, this one ignominious: drug addict. Then There Was No Mountain describes the external and internal processes the author, Sophie's mother, experiences in coming to terms with her daughter's addiction, then in seeking and ultimately finding help. Equally important, the author is forthright in examining the role that she, as a single mother, played in perpetuating her daughter's crisis by not coming to terms with her own 'drugs of choice': guilt, shame, and denial. A timely and provocative voice in the chorus of firsthand experiences of parents dealing with their childrens' drug use, Then There Was No Mountain is set against the backdrop of the ranching West, where the parallel paths of mother and daughter to healing are illuminated by Waterston's powerful pen. In real time the story covers a period of two years; in 'heart time,' the author writes, 'it takes the reader to places of pain, promise, and wonder.' Along the way, the rawness of life--represented by a father wanted on charges of drug possession, selling child pornography, and raping and molesting a minor--is set against the miraculous, an extraordinarily intuitive Montana social worker who helps adolescent girls regain their self-respect through ranch work. This book is not just a 'how-to' but what the author calls 'a wherefore-and invitation to the reader to look the good, the bad, and the ugly of life in the eye with the same unwavering gaze.'