Title: A Window Through to Your Soul
Author: Zoë Hickerson
Publisher: XlibrisNZ
ISBN: 978-1641517706
Pages: 242
Genre: Poetry
Reviewed by: Arnold Carreiro

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Author Zoë Hickerson’s A Window Through to Your Soul is a gut-wrenching and heartfelt series of poetic entries that follows an authentic trail of thoughts and emotions which stem from Hickerson’s deeply rooted depression; and how it has had a staggeringly negative effect on her relationships, distaste for her job, and most importantly, her state of mind and how she perceives the world around her. Especially well-written and with a signature storytelling style of her own, Zoë’s creative writings often run a range from dark, to darker, but if the reader is truly paying attention, reading between the lines, and following her personal developmental arc, they are treated to a rare glimmer of hope that things will turn for the better for the author.

Levels of darkness aside, her lengthy collection of poems are quite compelling on their own, but it is those glimmering crumbs of mental salvation from her deep and constant battle with true and unyielding despair that kept reengaging me with a newfound sense of optimism that she may improve in the following stories as I continued to read on.

An especially appropriate title, A Window Through to Your Soul is loaded with Hickerson’s personal miseries, and her writings are so honest and self-reflecting, that one can’t overlook those precious moments when she remarks upon her appreciation for the good things in life and her admissions of those small victories. It is within those key moments that highlight the fact that she is not merely wallowing in sadness, and meticulously describing every horrible aspect of depression like a poetic checklist, but they instead reveal a humble woman who accepts that she sees the world through a somber lens, and wants to get to a better place.

Zoë Hickerson is a well-traveled, educated, and above all else, a highly sympathetic figure, but I truly wish that she would have shone a light on the life changing event that happened shortly before her 50th birthday that launched Hickerson into this spiral of depression as noted on the rear cover of the book. That way, I could more closely empathize with her as both a reader and a human being. But I am sincerely happy with knowing that she had made great strides, and continues to share her innermost musings on surviving and her battles with depression by writing this compelling book, A Window Through to Your Soul.

A Window Through to Your Soul has a very raw and realistic perspective on what it means to have depression and the feelings and thoughts that come with it. At the same time, the language is very beautiful and poetic. I highly recommend this book to anyone, whether or not you usually read poetry. This book is very moving on a human level.