The Heart of the Sound
An Alaskan Paradise Found and Nearly Lost

When the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound on Good Friday 1989, millions of gallons of crude oil swept into the Sound, poisoning everything in its path. On the fifteenth anniversary of the spill comes one woman’s reflections on the devastation and the larger implications of that catastrophe.

Twining together the destruction of an ecosystem, the disintegration of her marriage, and her emerging identity as a new mother, Holleman explores the resiliency of nature—both wild and human—and the ways in which that resiliency is tested.

“This book has it all: an original, compelling story; lyrical, evocative prose; a clear-eyed and passionate storyteller.”
— Annie Dillard

“A love song to one of earth's loveliest and most threatened places…an extraordinary book full of wonder and passion…”
—David W. Orr

 “An environmental masterpiece.”
—Dennis Lythgoe