Devil's Monday

by Ceiridwen Terrill, LJ Kinzer (Illustrator)

“Back then, there were no support groups, no Cancer for Dummies, and in her grief and anger, she whisked me off to those anti-nuke rallies where people shouted themselves hoarse about the end of the world.”

In search of her father’s killer, author Ceiridwen Terrill sets out on foot for the atomic frontier, the birthplace of plutonium in the heart of the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, she encounters people, animals, and landscapes forever changed by that secret factory in the desert. Terrill’s own family uprooted themselves from Oklahoma to become part of the plucky and hopeful lot who carried on the plutonium mission after WWII. As a Cold War daughter, she discovers that when you go searching for truths, you can’t keep only the ones you like—you have to keep them all.

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 4, 2025

About the author

I’m a writer and adventurer who loves to tell stories about humans and animals sharing home ground. I also write about people I admire who do important work on behalf of wildlife, trying to make a way for animals despite shrinking and fragmented habitats. I hope these stories inspire people to be better humans on the planet, because animals need all the help they can get.

I explore my own human foibles through memoir and science as I figure out how to live on the urban-wild border of Portland, Oregon’s 5,000-acre Forest Park. My home sits on city-protected lands that I share with elk, deer, beaver, coyote, pygmy and barred owls.

At Concordia University in Portland, I teach environmental journalism and science writing. When I’m not writing and teaching, I’m sailing the San Juans, jumping horses, topping out on Mount Hood, free-climbing through the narrow slot canyons of Utah, wildcrafting medicinal plants, or backpacking with Argos, my 100% pure American street dog.