HalfLife

The Way of the Witness

By: Lorraine Thomson

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Paperback | 15 March 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
318 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 14.0 x 2.19

Paperback

$29.75

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"An irresistible read... a study in how family shapes the artistic mind, propelling it to transform trauma into something meaningful."

At once adventure, self-discovery and spiritual quest, this memoir tracks the flight from childhood illness and trauma towards independence and equilibrium through a life in the arts. Set in Victoria, Vancouver, Paris, Indonesia, India, London and San Francisco, the journey takes us deep into the engine room of personal healing and the creative process. In this steadfast pursuit of embodied meaning, we are gently led inside to look out at the world and then outside to look inward to the soul.

Industry Reviews

"An irresistible read... a study in how family shapes the artistic mind, propelling it to transform trauma into something meaningful."

- Terence Young, author of Give Us This Day

"Lorraine Thomson's memoir is a finely detailed portrait of a life lived wide open to the liberating possibilities of the creative process, the creative moment."

- John Gould, author of The End of Me.

"An intimate and vivid story of coming of age through movement... mining the expressive body in both Western and Indonesian dance, integrating the worlds of embodiment, emotion and spirituality."

- Santa Aloi, Professor of Dance, Emerita, Simon Fraser University

"Personally fearless and culturally illuminating, Halflife is Part One, perhaps, of a life quest shaped in equal parts by passion, willpower and the sly conspiracies of chance."

- Se¡n Virgo, author of Dibidalen and Waking in Eden

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