In this collection of quotes by Maine women writers, editor Liza Bakewell has gathered together women’s voices from 1800 to present, beginning with Madame Sally Wood, Maine’s first novelist, and traveling through the last two centuries up to the present day. The matching of quotes with photographs by Kerry Michaels accentuates just how much Maine women writers have energized the essence of place, strengthened women’s lives, and illuminated the human condition.

In summary, A Gateless Garden is a meditation on community, collectivity, women and men, landscape, gardening, love, desire, and family, topics as ancient to women’s experiences as they are palpable to us today. In Tess Gerritsen’s words: “The wisdom of Maine’s women writers is on fascinating display in this collection.”