Anyone with experience with any of the struggles that Goldhammer faces will love her attitude and poetic approach to hardship. If you have owned chickens, had a pre-teenager, been divorced, or faced the menopausal years, this wonderful tale is for you.

The house she finds is shabby - and NOT of the variety called "shabby chic!" Instead it is small, cramped, dirty and full of frustrations. Each step of the way is fraught with mistakes, battle wounds (including a huge bag of drywall dropped on Catherine's leg) and the continuing saga of raising six tiny chicks, hopefully, to adulthood. The chickens become the parable that defines the writer's life, and, as she invests herself into Dragonfly Farm, she finds the neighbors intriguing, the challenges funny, and the changes in herself and her daughter encouraging. It is so great to read a story that, while it parallels many women's lives, brings a good feeling to the reader and a sense that despite all of life's variety, it is worth living.