Terry Tempest William's mother told her: "I am leaving you all my journals, but you must promise me you won't look at them until after I'm gone." Readers of William's iconic and unconventional memoir, "Refuge", well remember that mother. She was one of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah who developed cancer as a result of the nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. It was a shock to Williams to discover that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as what she found when the time came to read them. "They were exactly where she said they would be: three shelves of beautiful clothbound books...I opened the first journal. It was empty. I opened the second journal. It was empty. I opened the third. It too was empty...Shelf after shelf after shelf, all of my mother's journals were blank." What did William's mother mean by that? In fifty-four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with its own logic and beauty, Williams creates a lyrical and soaring mediation on the mystery of her mother's journals. "When Women Were Birds" is a kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question "What does it mean to have a voice?"