Listening in the Dark

September 12, 2022
Actor Tamblyn (Era of Ignition)—along with a roster of contributors including doctors, poets, and fellow actors—examines in this deeply moving anthology the power of intuition. Many women learn from an early age to ignore their strong “inner compass,” writes author Jessica Valenti in “Untwisting My Intuition.” Poet and therapist Mindy Nettifee describes in “Over the Rainbow” dreading her marriage but waiting for her “inner voices to relax,” and realizing years later that trusting herself “radically changed my life for the better.” Dara Kass, an emergency room physician, reveals in “Harnessing Catastrophes” how her “clinical gestalt” helps her make life-or-death decisions. Actor Amy Poehler shares in “Practicing the Quiet” a chilling account of being assaulted in college, and her understanding as she’s “gotten wiser over the years” that “the quiet space is what we’ve all been overlooking” Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley writes in “Mirrors,” meanwhile, that “we must learn to don our armor and choose which reflections we allow into our hearts.” A lively conversation between actor America Ferrera and Tamblyn is especially enjoyable: “Locate your own personal Beyoncé Chakra and protect it at all costs,” Ferrera advises. Intimate and thought-provoking, this collection packs a punch. Agent: Anthony Mattero, Creative Artists Agency.