Thank you to Libro FM for an audio arc of the essay collection, Listening in the Dark: Women Reclaiming the Power of Intuition, edited by Amber Tamblyn.

Writer and actress Amber Tamblyn edited this collection of essays from female contributors centered around the idea of women following their intuition. The contributors are from a wide variety of backgrounds and many narrated their own stories on the audio version of the book.

As with many essay collections, Listening in the Dark was a bit hit or miss. I was impressed by some of the contributors, especially our current Poet Laureate, Ada Limon, who just has a magical way with words. I love her writing.

A common thread is the historic distrust of women who follow their intuition or speak out. For example, women labeled as witches for talking about their intuition and it being considered magic and not verifiable. We may no longer kill women for witchcraft, but the essays in Listening in the Dark, reveal how society diminishes women’s voices and perspectives. Personally, I believe in the power of intuition and have found that following my own has served me well in life, or alternately, done me harm when I haven’t followed it. I’m not sure that women have a unique form of intuition, however, I can agree that women are often suppressed or silenced, even in seemingly progressive societies.

I enjoyed enough of the contributions to recommend this thought provoking collection.