The River in My Backyard

OF ALL THE HAUNTING MEMOIRS THAT I HAVE READ, Mikkel Aaland's The River in My Backyard, is at once the most heart-rending and the most courageously triumphant. Aaland explores two rivers, the literal one that runs past his ancestral home in Norway, and the metaphorical one that runs in the blood of his ancestors, himself, and now his two daughters. By the time the two rivers flow into one another, through crystalline prose and shadow fretted photographs, his story has become a healing journey of epic proportions. -- Phil Cousineau, author of The Art of Pilgrimage The River in My Backyard is more than an exploration into the world of patricide, madness and ghost genes. Ending with a dramatic pilgrimage to holy Mt. Kailash, and atonement for a brother's sins, it provides an inspiring roadmap to inner peace and healing. The book is beautifully illustrated with both the author's photographs and vintage family reproductions.

About the Author :
Mikkel Aaland is a photographer, writer, and best-selling author of over 15 books including Sweat, County Fair Portraits, Shooting Digital, and The Sword of Heaven. He divides his time with his family between San Francisco and Ulefoss, Norway.

Review :
THE LIFE WE HAVE LIVED IS THE LIFE WE REMEMBER. The magic of a good memoir is that by telling our story we can give new meaning to our past, we can change and move forward, but most important, we connect to others. The river of each life flows to the ocean of our shared humanity. Mikkel Aaland's beautiful book proves that it is not the truth revealed that makes us vulnerable, but the secrets we keep. -Isabel Allende, author. --OF ALL THE HAUNTING MEMOIRS THAT I HAVE READ, Mikkel Aaland's The River in My Backyard, is at once the most heart-rending and the most courageously triumphant. Aaland explores two rivers, the literal one that runs past his ancestral home in Norway, and the metaphorical one that runs in the blood of his ancestors, himself, and now his two daughters. By the time the two rivers flow into one another, through crystalline prose and shadow-fretted photographs, his story has become a healing journey of epic proportions. - Phil Cousineau, author of The Art of Pilgrimage. --A BRILLIANT, BRAVE, AND MOVING BOOK filled with loss and redemption, art, and the journey forward. Aaland shares his relentless pursuit of beauty, and the concurrent mystery of the secrets just below. This is a powerful memoir by an author with the courage to trust his memory and find his voice; an artist who understands that his struggle is worth something. His story connects us all as we, too, carry our wounds across the river to find peace, if we are determined, on the other side. - Rebecca Walker, author of Adé, A Love Story. --IT IS EXCEEDINGLY RARE FOR A POWERFUL NARRATIVE and powerful photographs to comfortably coexist in the same volume. But Mikkel Aaland achieves this tour de force in his achingly poignant memoir, The River in My Backyard. As Aaland courageously confronts a brutal family tragedy with the wisdom and discernment that only comes with age, the reader is inexorably pulled along. The River in My Backyard is a quick, compelling read and Aaland's brilliant and haunting photographs perfect his story. -David Elliot Cohen, New York Times best-selling author.