Woman in the Rock

Louise E. Allin, a poet and short-story writer, is also an English instructor at Cambrian College.

This collection of stories and stories within stories chronicles in
lyric fashion a woman’s journey from innocence to experience, a
journey driven by nightmarish memories of incest. Many of the stories
involve Maritime commercial fishing. Others involve the speaker’s
exploration of a childhood that was both troubled and joyful. Imagery
and symbolism are Gahlinger’s strengths. The woman in the rock is a
primal metaphor for the satisfaction that comes from self-knowledge and
fulfilment: “Up there she stands. ... Smiling, subtly yet massively
built, a gentle parabola in roseate stone. Her arm curves across her
chest. Her hand, palm upward, cups her own breast, ... a handful of
blackness, shining like anthracite coal; enough genius to fuel this
whole massively radiant world.”

A feminist focus informs all of the narratives; the speaker is
fortunate to find wise women to guide her on this odyssey. Yet do not
expect the traditional short-story form here; the reader must weave
through waves and discern fog from fact before the little boat comes
quietly to shore.