In The Fifth Season, award-winning journalist, essayist and poet Cori Howard explores the seasons of a woman’s life, bravely writing about everything from marriage and motherhood to divorce. With humour and insight, Howard explores what she aptly names “disaster dating,” and reinvention. Through the arc of midlife, these poems offer a map back to the self and a return to longing and new freedoms.

In poetry that is raw, honest and personal, Howard carries the reader through the thresholds of her life. Vivid, propulsive and brave, her poems vibrate with an intimacy normally reserved for conversations between old friends. The Fifth Season illuminates the experiences of womanhood and the questions we ask ourselves during times of transition and reimagination.