Poetry. "IMAGINARY ANCESTORS is a search for self-definition that leads Madeline DeFrees to that fertile ground where imagination unearths the past in order to invent the present. She unlocks her complex family past, which becomes a version of American history; struggles with the crisis of religious faith in our time; and affirms a moving, personal vision of America's feminine poetic tradition. Her language is chiseled and penetrating, full of those marvelous, idiosyncratic perceptions that recall Emily Dickinson and Marianne Moore. Those who know When Sky Lets Go and Magpie on the Gallows will find IMAGINARY ANCESTORS a wonderful furthering of Madeline DeFree's art. Those who haven't discovered Madeline DeFree's poems will find this book a revelation."—Peter Balakian

Author City: SEATTLE, WA USA

At 17, Madeline DeFrees entered a Catholic convent and remained a nun for 38 years. She has published nine volumes of poetry and has taught at universities and colleges throughout the United States. Her most recent book, BLUE DUSK, won the Lenore Marshall/The Nation prize. She lives in Seattle.