Book excerpt: Using such models as Joseph Cornell’s box constructions, crazy quilts, and specimen displays, Joni Tevis places fragments in relationship to each other in order to puzzle out lost histories, particularly those of women. Navigating the peril and excitement of outward journeys complicated by an inward longing for home, The Wet Collection follows Tevis through several adventures that coalesce into a narrative imbued with the light of Tevis’s Southern upbringing. Written with a poet’s lyricism, a scientist’s precision, and a theologian’s understanding of the world as it shifts around us, The Wet Collection is the exciting debut of a distinctive voice. "Tevis’s writing, a showcase for her interests in religion, memoir, natural study and women’s history, is precise and unique, and in this collection of musings, she builds big ideas out of small fragments...Far from the typical memoir or essay collection, this volume showcases a unique, meticulous and inviting voice.” — Publishers Weekly