Part pandemic memoir, part poetic reflection, The Arrow Tree is as edifying as it is emotional. Great for fans of: Mary Oliver, Henry David Thoreau. - BOOKLIFE by Publishers Weekly

Author Phyllis Weliver was in the first wave to fall ill with long COVID. Moving from the city to a woodland cottage above a glacier lake in order to regain health, Weliver reflects on the process of integrating mind/body health with the natural world. As she recovers from long-haul COVID, the author draws inspiration from forest bathing, traditional Odawa and Ojibwe culture, ancient Chinese philosophy, and British and American literature.

While this memoir may be of special interest to those dealing with chronic illness, Weliver’s narrative ultimately addresses how we might all mend from the bruising pace of modern life.

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This is the first published book-length long hauler memoir (April 2021). It deals with the first 10 months of illness. In total, Phyllis Weliver lived with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 for almost 2½ years. Today, she is grateful to have recovered. Learn more about the author.

Hardcovers have linen-wrapped covers, gold foil stamping on the spine, and color dust jackets. Paperbacks are perfect bound with glossy covers. Both use 60# uncoated cream paper and measure 6 x 9 inches. Digital e-books use reflowable layout ePub files that convert beautifully to multiple devices.

Praise for The Arrow Tree

“In the recovery from long illness, we see the world refreshed. Arrow Tree documents this slow renewal with warmth and intimacy. It is a book of reverie and vital information, in equal measure, in a search for equilibrium. Wind, water, sunlight, woods, and creaturely life return us to essential pleasures and values. We learn to relax into each gesture, as in tai chi; we come to understand grace as well as weedy resilience. Throughout, Phyllis Weliver’s writing is alert yet pleasurably digressive, following lightly trodden paths of natural and cultural history.” – DEVIN JOHNSTON, author of Mosses and Lichens, a New York Times Best Poetry Book of 2019

“The Arrow Tree is beautifully crafted, [a] pertinent memoir.” AARON STANDER, Michigan Writers on the Air, IPR News Radio

“The Arrow Tree is a timely account of the experience of Long COVID and the vital role that the natural world can play in the slow process of recovery. Weaving together memoir and day-to day experience, literature, Native American history and culture, and Chinese medicine and philosophy, Phyllis Weliver’s prescient, beautifully-written meditation offers a story of hope in a world that has lost its way.”– JENNY BOURNE TAYLOR, Professor Emerita of English, University of Sussex, UK

 “Excellent read for anyone who is wanting to improve the health of mind, body and spirit. Truly enjoyable.”– DALE CHANDLER, Tribal Elder, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan

“so many descriptions in [The Arrow Tree] could be isolated as poems … such vivid descriptions … I loved it.” Edward S. Ibur, CRAFT TALKS, a podcast series presented by the St. Louis Literary Award

"Her prose … invites curiosity and encourages insight that is, at times, breathtaking and joyous. This … memoir points its readers in the direction of a safe passage to the home of our natural world, where, in finding union with that world, we may experience healing not only from COVID but from habits of the heart that have left us more broken than we know.” LitMed Database

“The story is remarkably vivid … Her reflections are not only informative, but they also invoke solace and self-awareness for the reader.” Freshwater Reporter