In Soul Friend and Other Love Notes to the Natural World , author and naturalist Sheila McEntee artfully conveys her deep love of the natural world and the solace she finds there. In fourteen brief personal essays, spanning 20 years, she explores the flora and fauna in Appalachian forests, on the shores of the southern Potomac River, and, especially, in her own backyard, as she navigates the joys and trials of an introspective life: love, loss, death, loneliness, intimacy, uncertainty, and, ultimately, self-knowing and self-acceptance. In this small volume, we learn that nature teaches resiliency, and to be present to it is to find joy. Indeed, there is no heartache or struggle for which does not offer comfort.