With her skilful use of metaphor and her wonderful use of language and imagery, Emily Bilman reminds us that our capacity for resilience endows us with the power to survive trauma. The modern Faust, to whom the book refers, defies death through the power of resilience. Like Faust, we have to surpass evil impulses to purify ourselves and reach resilience. As we survive tragedy and misfortune, we begin to evolve and grow spiritually. Emily draws upon a humanistic premise that extends from the mythological dimension to our contemporary values. The poems in this book show that the poet has been in those hollows of isolation and solitude and risen from them. In reading this book, the reader attains not only an existential resilience based upon their own understanding, but experiences a personal metamorphosis.