I hold the peach in my left hand and the paring knife in my right then slice deep and circle the peach until I can twist it open and use the knife to pop out the pit. I peel the peach halves and dump them into Mom’s enameled bowl. There is a bushel of peaches on the floor and I feel like this agony will never end.
“The Deepest Path” by Martha Shull Praski is a deeply personal collection that moves between poetry, memories, family stories, difficult experiences, humor, grief, and moments of quiet reflection. Proudly published by Citi of Books, this is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major retail platforms.
Rather than following one continuous narrative, the book gathers pieces of a life and places them side by side, allowing childhood memories, adulthood, relationships, motherhood, loss, aging, and self-discovery to gradually form a larger picture. The table of contents alone reveals the remarkable range of the collection, from “My Garden,” “Memories of Grandpa,” and “Crossing the Fields to Home” to “The Stroke,” “The Closet,” “The Warrior,” “Spirit Walls,” and the concluding piece, “The Traveler.”
“The Deepest Path” is compelling because it does not pretend that a meaningful life is made only from beautiful memories. Praski gives equal space to laughter and sorrow, childhood mischief and adult responsibility, love and rejection, family loyalty and personal conflict. The result is a collection that asks readers to consider how the past continues to shape the person standing in the present.
For readers who enjoy personal poetry, memoir-inspired writing, family stories, reflective literature, and emotionally candid life experiences, this collection offers plenty to explore. Its greatest strength is its willingness to look directly at complicated memories while still recognizing the small joys that make life worth remembering.
By the time readers reach “The Traveler,” the book’s reflective journey takes on another dimension. The story presents a mysterious encounter with a luminous world where beauty, connection, vulnerability, and harm become intertwined. The traveler eventually understands that even an attempt to embrace something beautiful can leave wounds, and his final realization is marked by both regret and gratitude.
“The Deepest Path” by Martha Shull Praski ultimately feels like a collection of memories gathered from different seasons of one life. Some are warm, some painful, some humorous, and some difficult to revisit, but together they create a portrait of a woman continuing to walk forward while carrying everything that came before. For readers willing to follow that path, the book offers something intimate and recognizable: the reminder that our lives are made not only from the moments we planned, but also from the memories we survived, the people we loved, and the pieces of ourselves we slowly learned to reclaim.
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