Letterpress printed on a Vandercook 4, in my backyard during blue-sky days of a super-blooming spring after a torrential winter, on the flax and cotton of Somerset Book & Moulin Du Gue, using Goudy Old Style, various Futuras, Kabelm and Savoye typefaces.

Written, drawn, printed watercolored and bound by Casey Gardner.

This book, the second in the Avalanche Safety Series, Begins on a cliff. After surviving the avalanche that buried her friend, Stella wrestles with her past as she considers joining an expedition to the Himalaya. How does she trust herself to venture again into wild terrain?

Stella leaves her small town and travels into a world imperiled by fascism and looming war. She also finds great beauty and courage. In her encounters with people and places, she reflects on the power and weight of making choices and on the forces influencing desire. Throughout the book, images of dendritic forms, in leaves, rivers, maps, convey how paths branch into new paths with decisive turns.