The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow

By Opal Whiteley and Benjamin Hoff In 1920 the childhood diary of Opal Whiteley was published to a fascinated and disbelieving public. Had, using phonetic spelling of her own invention, this unlettered child of a rural logging family created these spiritual, visionary, and haunting writings? The truth about her extraordinary life and tragic end is recounted in this book, which includes the original diary and an extensive biographical essay by Benjamin Hoff. Penguin Books, 1995, softcover, 373 pages.