Valmai Howe Elkins, while teaching childbirth education at McGill University, pioneered the hospital Birthing Room and introduced the concept and design across North America. The Rights of the Pregnant Parent, dubbed the book that changed hospital birth, became an international bestseller, followed by The Birth Report. With a Master of Fine Arts from Bennington College, she is the author of the novels The Dreams of Zoo Animals, about coming of age in Australia, and The Loneliness of Angels, a darkly entertaining look at alternative healing. Her insightful guide, Adventures of a Feng Shui Detective, builds on her Birthing Room experience to explore the ways in which our physical surroundings shape our emotional well-being.
