“Quiet observation and deep faith in the capacity of living things to love and endure is what allows us to move through our world—fish, turtles, birds, primates, cows, and dogs, and, yes, we human beings. In her observations, Matthews catalogs the wonders and miraculous moments and assures us that the lost will find their way for they are the ‘scaffolding of every living thing around.’ With her words, sometimes we are held up and other times we fly free.”
—JILL GERARD, editor of Chautauqua Journal

“When she was very young, Charlotte Matthews’s mother told her never to lose her sense of wonder. It is that sense of wonder, of curiosity and celebration, that informs every sentence in this beautiful collection. It is a wake up call to pay attention to the smallest things of nature that we observe and to the greatest griefs that we endure. It is a reminder that our connections to the earth and to one another are the most profound assurances that we are alive. Everything in its Brilliance is not just brilliant; it is magic.”
—LEE ZACHARIAS, author of Remember Me

“‘How near at hand it was, if that they had eyes to see it,&rsuqo; Gerard Manley Hopkins once said of how few of us perceive the world’s wonder. The marvel of Everything in its Brilliance is that Matthews allows us to see, hear, feel that wonder too. In a time of technological tyranny, she has shown us that the true wonder is outside of any screen. This collection is one I will return to often.”
—RON RASH, author of The Caretaker

CHARLOTTE MATTHEWS lives outside of Charlottesville and teaches writing to non-traditional learners at the University of Virginia. She is the author of five poetry collections, a memoir, and a novel. This is her first essay collection.