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Poet Donatella Cardillo Young combines insight and imagery with a fluid symmetry that has delighted readers and audiences for many years. The poems published here in Blue Mist represent a carefully chosen selection of her personal favorites. Popular poet Peter Gordon says, "Donatella Young's writing encompasses the universe of poetry, from the distant past to the far future. Her work shows that wherever people are, they yearn for beauty and cherish the fragile flower of the human heart." This collection of poems explores, with clarity and depth, a lifetime of memories. Ms. Young explores her deepest feeling of love and loss, weaving a pattern of imagery that speaks to us in a language that every person can understand-that is every person who has been exposed to the cutting edge of life and confronted the pain with courage. Memories of childhood and experiences of adulthood are intertwined in this work in such a way that a comprehensive sense of life intensely lived is conveyed. The poetry conveys sadness, yet reverence for life and a profound sense of the spiritual realm. Young has drawn from her past the experience of facing the loss of family members, and her husband. Her poetic renderings of these pivotal events constitute a lasting tribute. But she also conveys the raw edge of these experiences. She has been intensely seared by them, and through them has grown into a mature poetic artist. Her use of imagery, derived both from nature and the urban setting of New York, is flawlessly integrated with the human experiences depicted in her work. Her writing is spare, suggesting an Eastern influence. There is no attempt to hide intent or confuse the reader. Yet the complexity of a fully realized life is conveyed in full measure.

Attractive, middle-aged Emily Hughes appeared to have it all as the wife of a successful and handsome husband. Suddenly her husband asks for a divorce. Devastated by the divorce, wounded by the Catholic Church's annulment of her thirty-five year marriage and misunderstood by her adult daughters, Emily realizes that she, too, had been unfulfilled in the marriage. Emily has lost her spiritual compass and sets out on a journey to remap the rest of her life. What sets this novel apart from others in this genre is the spiritual nature of Emily's quest. Her faith is both challenged and enriched as she explores new friendships with a free-spirited neighbor and friend, Frances, who accompanies her to Nepal to trek through the Himalayas. On this trek she meets a young Buddhist Sherpa and Roman Catholic priest floundering in his priesthood and finally an enigmatic man who has just spent the past year in a Buddhist monastery. Emily's journey with the help of her new friends leads her to find new ways to get on with her life.