Sleeping with Stones

Serie Barford

Serie Barford met her long-term partner—a French national from Alsace—at Piula, a beautiful freshwater pool beside the ocean on the Samoan island of Upolo. Many years later, their story ended in tragedy when he fell to his death from a waterfall in South America. Serie wrote Sleeping with Stones whilst trying to move through the anguish and disbelief that engulfed her in the wake of his death. She sought both answers to the questions posed by his passing and to address her own grief. Sleeping with Stones is divided into sections for each of the four seasons. As she moves through autumn, winter, spring and summer, Serie traverses the pain, anger, longing and heartache of losing a loved one in poetry that is both steely with resolve and exquisitely tender. And although Sleeping with Stones traverses heavy subject matter, it remains a hopeful and uplifting book.