The Sheep Walker’s Daughter

This is a gem of a book, telling the story about knowing and understanding, about past hurt and present secrets told in a beautiful, rich prose. – Janka, Goodreads

Does it really matter where you come from?

In 1953, a war widow’s difficult mother dies before revealing the identity of her daughter’s father and his cultural heritage. As Dee sorts through what little her mother left, she unearths puzzling clues that raise more questions: Why did Leora send money every month to the Basque Relief Agency? Why is her own daughter so secretive about her soon-to-be published book? And what does an Anglican priest know that he isn’t telling?

All of this head-spinning mystery breaks a long, dry period in Dee’s life and leads her to embark on an odyssey. She might just as well lose her job and see where the counsel of her new spiritual advisor and the attentions of an enigmatic ex-coworker lead her.

The Sheep Walker’s Daughter pairs a colorful Basque immigrant history of loss, survival, and tough choices with one woman’s search for identity and fulfillment. Dee’s journey will take her through the Northern and Central California valleys of the 1950s and reach across the world to the Basque Country.

Along the way, she will discover who she is and why family history matters.

"The Sheep Walker's Daughter is a novel about delving into the past ….It is also a novel about getting to know God and oneself better." – Julia, Goodreads

"Their lives are changed in substantive ways and as readers, we are made the better as we bear witness to the lives of these two women who undergo a powerful transformative journey that allows them to embrace the richly woven tapestry of their unique cultural and generational identities. Their hard-won wisdom becomes an irrepressible summons to all of us to live spirited, authentic lives." –Calder, Goodreads

Enjoy the beauty of a story by Sydney Avey
The Sheep Walker's Daughter
The Lyre and the Lambs
The Trials of Nellie Belle

Sydney Avey’s debut novel, The Sheep Walker’s Daughter, is an absolute treasure. Set in the years just after WWII, it’s a story of mothers and daughters and sisters, all members of one family and yet all isolated by both physical and emotional distance. Avey’s characters are compelling and deftly drawn. – Jan Goodreads

The Sheep Walker's Daughter is a novel about delving into the past ….It is also a novel about getting to know God and oneself better.– Julia, Goodreads

Lives are changed in substantive ways and as readers, we are made the better as we bear witness to the lives of these two women who undergo a powerful transformative journey that allows them to embrace the richly woven tapestry of their unique cultural and generational identities. Their hard-won wisdom becomes an irrepressible summons to all of us to live spirited, authentic lives. –Calder, Goodreads

The plot was interwoven with provoking insights into conflicting differences between two people of different cultures seeking the American Dream in CA, that ultimately included life choice decisions that divided their family with secrecy and isolation. – Sandra, Goodreadss

I found myself rereading passages just to hear the way the words blended together to paint a wonderful word picture. Sydney Avey has a real gift for creating such wonderful imagery with her words. Avey is also gifted in her ability to take many plot lines and weave them together into a wonderful story. – Shari, Goodreads

The Sheep Walker's Daughter explores complex relationships between richly developed characters. I loved the bits of wisdom, poetic analogies, and unexpected twists. It was a pleasure unraveling this family saga set between the Basque region and California’s Central Valley. The book’s give and take theme lingers beyond the final page.– April, Goodreads

I have always wondered how an author is able to weave many intricate details seamlessly into a compelling story. Such is the case with The Sheep Walker’s Daughter. – Shari, Goodreads

I loved this book – it was a great story and a real page-turner. I couldn’t put it down! – Susan, Goodreads

I enjoyed this book so much. I actually found many parallels to my own life; the secrets that families keep, as well as the realization that through the generations, we're probably more alike than we think. – Lisa, Goodreads

This is a gem of a book, telling the story about knowing and understanding, about past hurt and present secrets told in a beautiful, rich prose. – Janka, Goodreads

The Sheep Walker's Daughter is a novel about delving into the past ….It is also a novel about getting to know God and oneself better. – Julia, Goodreads

I hope The Sheep Walker's Daughter gets the accolades it deserves. – Marie, Goodreads

Sydney’s genre is not a part of my normal reading diet, but her first book captured my imagination and left me wanting more.- The Rt. Rev. Douglas B. Weiss, Goodreads