Abigail B. Calkin was born in Boston and raised in New England and New York's Greenwich Village. After moving to a few other states and living in Scotland, she settled in a very small town in Alaska's bush. Her first novel, and fourth book, Nikolin, was shortlisted for a Benjamin Franklin Award when it came out in 1994. She ventured into writing about commercial fishing when the woman wallpapering her house told her the story of her husband's fishing disaster and Coast Guard rescue. The events tumbled into her thoughts and became The Night Orion Fell. She also has had poetry, behavior analysis articles, and other nonfiction published. She currently works on books on self-esteem, PTSD, and a memoir about moving to Alaska.
"Abigail Calkin’s memoir is a beautifully written, deeply honest,
and necessary book. This memoir blew me away."
—Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog
Life and Safekeeping
"Calkin delves deeply, recounting the last 50+ years of her
personal life, including her own struggles with trauma, and how she
has coped with her lingering symptoms. Uniquely, she intersperses
poetry throughout the work, which adds dimension and intensity to
her revelations of life as the spouse of a soldier. Masterfully,
Calkin outlines her culturally rich American roots, depicting
herself as a feisty, yet sensitive woman; and a brilliant
professional. Her appreciation for the sacrifices of American
service members appears as primal and tangible as her respectful
adoration of her husband, an Army veteran. This memoir bleeds with
juxtapositions such as a Quaker woman marrying a soldier, and an
independent woman entering into a military culture—wherein reliance
on others is critical to mission success. Themes of growth,
adaptation, and acceptance emerge throughout the work, mostly in
reference to her marriage and life as an Army wife. These themes
exemplify the endurance of the American military family, and may
resonate with those readers who 'served' while their spouse wore
the military uniform. Non-military readers may find this memoir
insightful, while those in the military and veteran community may
feel emboldened after reading. Calkin’s description of her own
marriage appears to be a metaphor for military service itself,
whereby persistence and commitment to something larger than oneself
delivers intrinsic rewards in spades."
—Dr. Kent A. Corso, OEF Veteran and President of NCR Behavioral
Health
"The Soul of My Soldier is a unique and very personal account
of what it is like, from a wife's perspective, to live with a
career soldier and veteran of three combat tours in two very
different wars. Abigail Calkin gives a very personal account of the
issues faced and the coping skills acquired over a decades-long
marriage that is at once instructive and deeply touching in its
unfolding. She takes the time to also give her own biography so we
might understand where she is coming from in the relationship.I
served only briefly in Vietnam as a young aviator, but I have seen
the wounds—physical and otherwise—that war inflicted on many
returning veterans. Much later, I served as the Senior Director for
Gulf War Illnesses on the National Security Council with
responsibility for policy direction to improve DoD’s response to
the veterans returning from that war. No two wars are the same, yet
the physical and mental anguish sustained in every one of them have
remarkable similarities. Our nation’s armed forces have made great
strides in recognizing the effects of PTSD since the Vietnam War
days, yet still have not found effective ways to ensure all
returning veterans can find care sufficient to create coping skills
to counter its effects, especially after separation from the
service. Abigail’s book offers an insider’s view of how one person
has managed. More importantly, she gives us a very personal
perspective of what a soldier’s family, and especially his or her
spouse, encounters in the relationship. This is a very different
viewpoint than that normally encountered in reading about PTSD and
one that has long been needed."
—Paul Busick, Rear Admiral, USCG (ret.)"Wives get Post-traumatic
Stress Disorder during their husbands’ deployments. Or, in this
case, they turn to make art as a saving grace. This book holds
wonderful combinations of essays and poetry with the assurance of a
strong writer with subject matter no one would wish for. The prose
is excellent—fast, clear reading—and the poetry is the tie that
binds. Most of all, it’s an example of an unimpeded mind that can
emphasize, and even flourish, interesting words that warrant deep
consideration."
—Washington Independent Review of Books
"This is a very nicely written book about the mental and spiritual
problems of her husband and herself during the so far over forty
years of marriage . . . "
—Dee Longenbaugh, KTOO
"The experiences recounted in “The Soul of My Soldier” are
intensely personal . . . military families will find comfort in the
relatability of this account."
—Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
"Raw, riveting, and engaging, Calkin recounts how war and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shaped their marriage and
family . . . [It's] a vivid exploration of the impact war has on
loved ones, and how war affects deployed military personnel long
after their tour of duty ends."
—Alaskan Dispatch News
"The Soul of My Soldier makes its perfect practice the art of
informed, intellectual generosity. Generosity between two
partners, sure, and also between Calkin’s smart, interrogating mind
and the rest of the world, which is found complex and damaged but
not destroyed—never destroyed while people still pay attention and
while we are still trying to fix our mistakes, make things better
and more peaceful than they were."
—Military Spouse Book Review
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