A Poignant Memoir of a Mother's Grief

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – Just as life at its best is a journey toward meaning and truth, Still Life with Sierra recounts one family’s quest to find where they belong, how they fit in after the tragic death of the author’s young daughter rocked their perception of what life should be. 

Seeking a fresh start, the author, her husband, and their young sons relocated to the Netherlands. “We moved our lives, our belongings, our coffee mugs across the Atlantic, hoping to find a place that felt like home,” the author said.

Instead, they found something unexpected: that the home they were seeking didn’t exist. It evaporated along with the life they used to have, before Sierra died, when the young couple with three small children lived a life that held great promise.

This memoir tells of the cascading events that followed Sierra’s death as the family searched for a new definition of home. Striving to fill in the blanks, they became pilgrims of the heart, finding it necessary to take measure of who they had become and what life meant to them in order to complete their journey. 

This is the story of how one family lost their place in the world and then found it again.

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The author, Peggy Sijswerda, has a B.S. in English from Radford University, an M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Old Dominion University. She writes for a variety of regional, national, and international magazines and currently publishes and edits a regional women's magazine called Tidewater Women. Still Life with Sierra is her first book.

Peggy has a passion for writing, travel, cooking, learning, nature, yoga, friends, and family. She lives with her family in Virginia Beach. Please send your comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and visit peggysijswerda.com for more information.

WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING

“Both memoir and travelogue, Still Life with Sierra follows one family’s journey through the continents of grief, anger, fear, and love. I want to send copies to all my friends who are dealing with losses of their own.”

Sheri Reynolds, author of The Rapture of Canaan, a New York Times bestseller, and The Sweet In-Between and professor of creative writing at Old Dominion University

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“The loss of a child would seem to be inexpressible, but Peggy Sijswerda conveys her bereavement—and difficult journey back from it—with an eloquent candor that transcends sadness. That eventful journey takes her family great distances, geographically and emotionally. Ultimately, intimately, the writer brings all of us back home.”

Bill Ruehlmann, columnist, author, and professor of journalism at Virginia Wesleyan College

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“Peggy Sijswerda shares in vivid, poignant detail the journey she and her family traveled following the tragic drowning death of her two-year-old daughter. Still Life with Sierra is unusual because of the visceral insights we gain into the author’s soul as she attempts to make sense of  ‘a sorrow beyond tears.’  We learn rare truths about the twists and rewards buried in the slow process of healing. A worthy read.”

Virginia O’Keefe, freelance writer and author of Speaking to Think/Thinking to Speak

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“A remarkable story of a family’s journey to healing after the accidental death of a child. The emotional honesty in this unique book gives permission to our truest forms of grieving and shows how diverse our paths of recovery from grief must always be. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has struggled with unbearable loss.”

Lindsay C. Gibson, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and author of Who You Were Meant to Be: A Guide to Finding or Rediscovering Your Life’s Purpose

A preview of the book may be found at http://tinyurl.com/3xjuquy.

The book may be ordered at https://www.createspace.com/3472005.