In an age of anxiety and confusion, a story that will restore a broken life.

Between myth and rumor, a beautiful folklore book about the Amazon pink dolphin, 『Meet the Amazon Pink Dolphin』, and a biography 『Walking with Apes』 about three women who changed the paradigm of science through their unique relationships with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, followed by the publication of Sai Montgomery's new book 『The Turtle Time』, the third book introduced in Dolphin.
This trip is a little different.
Now in his 60s, Montgomery is fascinated by turtles, animals with a history of some 250 million years and remarkable resilience.
So the author headed to a quiet rural town in Massachusetts, the headquarters of the Turtle Rescue League, which cares for sick and injured turtles and returns them to the wild.
Finally, the author becomes an intern (!) at the Turtle Rescue Association, and accompanies the turtles on their journey of birth, death, suffering, and recovery.

"Turtle Time" is a book that contains episodes that Sai Montgomery experienced while working at the Turtle Rescue Association, like a movie.
This book is a vivid and moving drama about rescuing and caring for sick and injured turtles, a wondrous testimony to the turtle's vitality and resilience, and a beautiful bond between two species.
The author has lived with turtles for over two years and analyzed various research papers and materials to explain the biological characteristics of each turtle species and the ecological reality of each turtle through the unique stories of each individual.
Thanks to this, the book goes beyond a simple fable that highlights the fragmentary characteristics of animals to convey a lesson, and becomes a profound record that fully embodies ecological reality.


The reason the turtle's vitality and resilience stand out even more in "The Time of the Turtle" is because the story was written during the coronavirus pandemic.
The life of a human whose daily routine has been completely disrupted and all relationships severed by the pandemic, and the life of a turtle that slowly but patiently heals its pain, are vividly contrasted in "Turtle Time."
Just as the author, who regained her daily life and hope by caring for a turtle, readers of "Turtle Time" will also be able to restore order and a sense of purpose in their lives amidst political turmoil.
In a time of anxiety and confusion, the turtle's message of healing and restoration has arrived.
The book includes illustrations by Matt Patterson, an American wildlife artist who won the Roger Torrey Peterson Wild American Art Award, on each page, vividly conveying the beauty of turtles and the vitality of the wild.
Additionally, the book is enhanced with color illustrations that allow you to see the various turtles and characters in person.

Surprisingly, turtles are animals with many surprising aspects.
[… … ] The most important of these is the turtle’s lifespan.
A tortoise who recently died at the age of 288 was alive when George Washington, America's first president, was born, when candles lit homes, when enemas and bloodletting were the mainstays of medical treatment, and when ground up moose hooves were fed to mentally ill patients.
Some turtles give birth to their young at the age of 140.
Some turtles can detect lakes and ponds 1.6 kilometers away, while others cross oceans to return to the beaches where they were born decades ago.
Some turtles breathe through their butts, and some urinate through their mouths.

--- p.25

Turtles are slow even when they die.
[… … ] The turtle's body is so different from ours that we cannot judge life and death by mammalian standards.
A 1957 newspaper article reported that an alligator snapping turtle caught by a college student in Marianas, Florida, had its heart still beating for five days after its head was cut off.
Even in an experimental environment completely deprived of oxygen, the red-eared slider's brain functioned for several days.
For these reasons, Alexia and Natasha at the Turtle Rescue Association do not prematurely pronounce a turtle dead until rigor mortis sets in or the body begins to rot.
Because of the turtle's amazing healing power, you can't give up hope until the very last moment.
“There is no giving up in front of a turtle.”
--- p.35

Only when I turned 60 did I finally enter old age.
After becoming an adult, you are at an age where you can pursue a wise life, perhaps a more morally compelling goal than you have lived up to this point.
So what better choice could there be to have as a teacher the path to wisdom and the way to live in harmony with time than this primordial animal, revered for its unhurriedness, longevity, and symbol of tranquility and perseverance?
--- p.37~38

According to Natasha, there are quite a few turtles in the forests and wetlands that have scars, one eye, misaligned jaws, and only three legs.
Such damage does not rob them of their precious lives in the wild.
“There is no turtle in the world that has been defeated,” said Natasha with a smile.
“It’s a greater joy to be able to work with such a being.” In Natasha’s words, I saw another superpower she possessed.
It is hope.
As we heal the suffering of innocent creatures and as we grapple with the uncertainty and fear of a global pandemic, we will desperately need hope.

--- p.86

Caring about someone comes with a price.
The word compassion itself implies emotional cost.
The prefix com means 'together'.
And the Latin etymology of pati means 'to suffer'.
[… … ] So, feeling compassion means entering into the suffering of another and feeling that suffering together.
Theologian and author Carl Frederick Buechner defines compassion this way:
“The sometimes fatal ability to feel what it is like to live as someone else.
“The thought that there can never be peace and joy for me until peace and joy come to the other person.”
--- p.92~93

Being in such a secret place, the refrain from Charles Baudelaire's 1857 poem "Invitation to Travel" came to mind: "There is only order and beauty / Luxury and quiet, and pleasure."
To the French poet's sense of order and beauty, of richness and tranquility, of sensuality, I would like to add the deep gratitude and humility I feel in wild moments.
To glimpse nature's private life is a tremendous privilege and makes one immensely humble.
--- p.123

In the cosmology of Australian Indigenous cultures, the Dreamtime is a world that transcends linear time.
In Christianity, that realm is known as 'Eternity'.
In Hinduism, it is called 'moksha (liberation)', and in Buddhism, it is called 'nirvana (nirvana).'
In Greece, it is called 'kairos', meaning sacred time, and it is depicted as an infinite spiral that deviates from the chronological straight line.
Many physicists and philosophers acknowledge the validity of this religious concept.

--- p.138~139

There are two kinds of time that exist side by side in the world.
Time was stolen in an instant, rushing along like the cars on the interstate highway.
And time, like the cycle of seasons, repeats and renews itself forever.
The turtle moves freely between the two worlds.
Following them, we entered the world beyond the highway guardrails, into the embrace of the wild, into the beating heart of nature, and escaped the trap of time.

--- p.140~141

“The World Is Blurry,” read the headline in Sunday’s New York Times, which explored “How Isolation, Monotony and Chronic Stress Are Destroying Our Sense of Time.”
He then declared, “The paradox of 2020: a year in which so much happened that nothing really happened.”
[… … ] Memory is how we organize the momentous experience of time and change, and how we anchor the self in the flow of time.
But what if nothing changes after a day, a week, or even a few months?
--- p.155~156

Fire Chief looked at us.
His eyes followed us as we moved.
It means you are interested.
The accident severely damaged his scabs and paralyzed his legs and tail, but left his head uninjured.
His mind is perfect.
He is a great turtle of absolute majesty, and he knows it.
Although he has been hospitalized here for two years, he still maintains his wild nature completely.

[… … ] Of course, Alexia doesn’t expect a future where he will fully recover.
But there is one thing everyone agrees on.
All the turtles at the Turtle Rescue Association, including Firechief, deserve to be returned to their natural homes.
Whether they live well or poorly, they should be given the opportunity to live out the century that was originally given to them.

--- p.169~170

Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese technique for repairing broken ceramics. Instead of repairing the vessel to make it look like new or hiding the broken parts, it emphasizes the cracked lines by sealing the broken edges with a sealant mixed with gold, silver, or platinum.
It is a technique that reflects the philosophy of wabi-sabi, which embraces the concept of wear and tear and imperfection, celebrates the beauty of broken objects, respects the effects of time, and provides opportunities for repair.
Looking at these Kintsugi techniques, I am reminded of Alexia's care and love in mending the turtle's broken shell, and the scars on Firechief's back.

--- p.195

The people who gathered here to protect the turtle nests and eggs ranged from toddlers (who were practically hatchlings) to those in their 60s (Emily and I, along with Firechief, are in the older age group).
But in this we were all one.
With the spawning grounds behind us and the sparkling river ahead, we stood witness to the world being renewed, standing between potential and fulfillment.

--- p.211

Alexia, Natasha, and Michaela even respect the bodies of the patients they cared for.
I was deeply moved one day when I watched Michaela take eggs out of a dead mother turtle's body and place them in an incubator.
It was a long, difficult, and tedious operation.
When I asked why she didn't just open the stomach and take it out since it was dead anyway, Michaela said, "I try not to cut into the body more than necessary.
It's my way of showing respect to the dead turtle.
“Once the work is done, we will restore it to its original state as much as possible,” he said.

--- p.220

When I first saw "Our Town," waiting struck me as the hardest part of death.
So I was taken aback by the composure of the older souls in the play.
How do they endure this waiting, this waiting with no end in sight?
But no one can keep up with the turtle when it comes to waiting.
Turtles, especially those living in northern regions, remain in a state of suspended animation for several months each winter.

--- p.229

In fact, Alexia's method is a typical female problem-solving method.
Women generally listen to others longer and more attentively than men.
Men, on the other hand, tend to act immediately.
These differences were also revealed in a study of male and female brains first reported in 2001.
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine scanned the brains of healthy men and women and found that when men listened to others, the left hemisphere of the brain (the analytical area related to spatial information and math) was activated, while in women, the right hemisphere, which is responsible for creation and intuition, was also activated, so both sides were activated.

--- p.269

“Alexia and I know what it’s like to be the underdog,” Natasha agreed.
“These voiceless animals that we are with are in some ways a code in the form of a living thing.” The turtles are a secret code or a disguised message.
“They can’t tell you what their problem is.
Working with turtles reminded me of the struggle I had to fight to become myself, but whose identity I couldn't quite identify.
Like a turtle in a shell, I have been hiding my pain and unstable mind.
That's why I'm drawn to this quiet animal.
In a world where everyone expects others to serve them, those of us at the bottom of the ladder need to look out for one another.”
--- p.277

The word 'wait' comes from the Northern French word waitier, which is related to wake.
Being on guard.
To bring something to life.
Waiting and staying awake are not opposites, they are twins.

--- p.290

The release carries the echoes of loss.
Both release and loss tell us to let go.
Over the past few months of the pandemic, we've had to let go of so much.
We had to give up our normal routines, we couldn't go to the office or the classroom, we had to postpone theaters, restaurants, parties, performances, vacations, and gatherings.
Tens of millions of people have lost their jobs.
And I said so many goodbyes.
--- p.321

We looked at each other and spoke at the same time.
“I wish we could swim together!” I wish I could see the grace and majesty of Fire Chief while wearing a diving mask and breathing tube.
If only we could see them move freely in weightlessness underwater, without the struggle of on land, without the constraints of hitting a plastic wall with a couple of flips.
[… … ] If only he could not only help him recover from the wounds left by human cruelty, but also return to the world he once lived in. If only he could have a pond again.

--- p.343

When I was young, I always saw the world as a series of ladders, steps, and mountains leading higher.
When I was young, I thought that the only thing I had to do was hurry to the top.
Time was going somewhere, and like everyone else, I wanted to keep going 'up', even if I wasn't 'going ahead'.

--- p.366

It wasn't until I was in my mid-sixties that I began to understand, through the turtle, that time doesn't move along a straight line.
Perhaps time is not an arrow.
It won't be a lethal weapon flying towards the target.
Maybe time is not an arrow, but an egg.
Let's make time into a turtle's egg.
Keeping the promise that every end leads to a new beginning.

--- p.369~370

The rhythmic song of crickets and gray tree frogs sounded to me like the ticking of a small clock.
But if the clock hands are ticking and time is passing, they are accumulating time.
Season by season, they are building up mystery, wisdom, and wonder.
The creaking and croaking sounds keep the turtle's time, renew the vow that keeps the world alive, and give us the gift of eternity.

--- p.373