Songs of the Fluteplayer

Filled with “honest” writing and “wise” observations, “Russell’s well-written essays describe her life as an urban immigrant to the rural Southwest” ( Library Journal ). In 1981, newlywed Sharman Apt Russell moved with her husband to an agricultural valley in southwestern New Mexico, hoping to create a simpler life. From building their adobe house to the home-birth of their firstborn to growing their own food and navigating the seasonal flooding of the Mimbres River, these luminous essays chart