Silver Girl

Through sixty-four healing poems, Silver Girl captures the legacy of Jennie’s early loss of her mother in childhood, and the sturdy adult life built out of that experience. The poems are snapshots of childhood, marriage, parenthood, love, loss, and hope. A great gift for anyone who has experienced early loss.

“Jennie Linthorst paints for us word pictures of our human condition, and, at the end of the day, lets us know that we are not alone, either in our grief or in our journeys toward healing. Her eventual triumph and learned wisdom shows us that the path through our own grief just might be the idea that we never really have to say goodbye to the people we cherish. They continue to be a part of us, bound by love, for a lifetime.  I LOVED this book!”

-Ann  Sparling White, MS, NBCC, LPC
Co-Creator of Kids Path of Greensboro, past Director of Family Programs at The Healing Center of Seattle
and author of  The Volcano Model Manual (How to Keep From Blowing Your Top When Everything Around You Is Driving You Crazy)

“Jennie Chapman Linthorst’s poems speak powerfully in a voice that is emotive and convincing and which does not wheedle, beg or trick. This quietly forceful voice is the thread which guides us through these poems, these moments which make up the very fabric of a human life.”

-Christopher Crawford, Editor of B O D Y

“Jennie Linthorst’s poems resonate with an oddly familiar, yet deeply intimate portrayal of belonging to a family in the roles of child, adult, parent, and spouse, reflecting on the cycle of domestic pain and joy.  Jennie’s honesty makes these poems feel so alive, and also makes them remain with readers long after reading her words.”

-Diane Payne, Author of Burning Tulips and Freedom’s Just Another Word

“Silver Girl is a poignant example that what is most personal in a human voice is also most universal.  In Jennie’s clear, deeply held human voice, we are privileged to bear witness to, and are affected by, her life as lived- the dance of creation and loss.”

-Robert Carroll, Psychiatrist and Poet, Author of Amazing Change: The Wisdom that Illness, Death, and Dying Provide

“Silver Girl is profound and moving.  Beautifully written with rhythm and depth, Jennie Linthorst touches on the many faces of drowning grief:  Be it grieving the loss of a loved one, the loss of innocence, the loss of ability; or the grief of a diagnosis, past mistakes, one’s imperfections, the if only I, or the I should haves.  With complete vulnerability, Jennie shares her personal journey and leaves the reader with the comfort of knowing it is possible to emerge from the deep dark waters of grief, and sail on.”

-Alana Hoffman, MBUSD