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Blog Tour: The Way by Kristen Wolf – Excerpt and Guest Post
The Way
written by Kristen Wolf
published by Crown Publishing Group
find it here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Goodreads
About the book – from Goodreads: Anna is a fiery tomboy living in ancient Palestine whose androgynous appearance provokes ridicule from the people around her and doubt within her own heart. When tragedy strikes her family, and Anna’s father—disguising her as a boy—sells her to a band of shepherds, she is captured by a mystical and secret society of women hiding in the desert. At first Anna is tempted to escape, but she soon finds that the sisterhood’s teachings and healing abilities, wrapped in an ancient philosophy they call “The Way,” have unleashed an unexpected power within her.
When danger befalls the caves in which the sisters have made their home, Anna embarks on a hazardous mission to preserve the wisdom of her mentors by proclaiming it among ordinary people. Her daring quest and newfound destiny reveal, at last, the full truth of her identity—a shocking revelation that will spark as much controversy as it does celebration.
I would like to welcome Kristen Wolf to Every Free Chance Book Reviews today as she tours the blogosphere with CLP Blog Tours! She has written the following guest post for all of you to enjoy.
About the Author: Kristen Wolf, 43, is a mother and writer living in the Rocky Mountains. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University and holds an M.A. in creative writing and film from Hollins College where she was awarded a full scholarship.
About the Author: Kristen Wolf, 43, is a mother and writer living in the Rocky Mountains. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University and holds an M.A. in creative writing and film from Hollins College where she was awarded a full scholarship.
As a child, Wolf grew up in a heavily forested suburb outside New York City with her parents, a younger brother, and an ever-changing menagerie of pet animals.
Both Wolf’s parents and grandparents passed onto her an avid love and respect for nature which explains the photos of Wolf posing with an ever-widening array of pets, including cats, dogs, guinea pigs, mice, quail, two raccoons, chickens, even a squirrel that lived in her bedroom! Needless to say, hers wasn’t the average American family.
Later, Wolf’s family purchased land in upstate New York and on weekends and summers lived like a regular Swiss Family Robinson, clearing the land, building fences, barns and, eventually, raising and tending cattle, horses, pigs, goats, chickens etc. This led to a very unique life for Wolf and her brother as they lived like farmers on the weekends and students in a suburban public school during the week.
Wolf credits her unique childhood for providing her with keen powers of observation, a passion for living things, unlimited curiosity, and a strong independent streak.
As an adult, Wolf has worked primarily as filmmaker and writer.
The Way is her first novel.
How THE WAY Came to Be
by Kristen Wolf
I wrote THE WAY because I had no choice. Its roots are deep and stretch all the way back to my childhood. In some ways I feel like I’ve been entertaining the story of Anna in my imagination since I was a very little girl.
As a child, I was raised in the Christian tradition. An eager and ready participant, I loved learning about the great and powerful mysteries I could feel all around, and above, me. And I loved the drama and sensuality of church and our celebrations. Yet as time went on, I began to feel a definite sense of being somehow excluded from the whole enterprise. After all, church leaders could only be male, our God was male, and the main player was the Father’s only son.
Was there no place for me in all this? I remember wondering.
So one day, at age six, I did something to fix the situation: I carried my desk into the driveway, covered it with a white sheet, adorned the front with a red felt cross and, upon this makeshift altar, held “church” for a gathering of neighborhood children.
My impersonation of a priest caused quite a stir, as you can imagine. Yet, however amusing, this story encapsulates a child’s powerful longing to carve a place for herself in the world of spirituality.
But guess what? It didn’t work.
Life went back to the status quo. And for the next decade or so, I lived a kind of double life. In the first, I was a young person thrilled by the miraculous power of the world around me, inspired to seek the deeper meaning and purpose of things. Yet in the second, I was an apathetic practitioner of my religion. Just going through the motions.
Over time, I grew more and more bothered by what felt like a “boys club” to which I could not be admitted. And I vividly remember thinking it wrong that the people who seemed to most innately embody the ideals that Jesus upheld—forgiveness, compassion, cooperation, nonviolence, respect for life—were not being included, nor honored, in our endeavors.
(The same disparity holds true today. Survey any of our major religions and you’ll find half of the world’s population excluded from its imagery and leadership.)
For years, I didn’t question the way things were. But when I entered college my youthful discontent would mix with a variety of influences: personal experiences, college studies with Jesuits, independent study of prehistoric cultures, mythology, ancient and modern spiritual traditions, and the leading-edge scholarship that had uncovered efforts throughout history to remove the feminine from the spiritual domain.
Having felt first-hand the negative effects of living under a religion that sets the male higher than the female, I decided to try and instigate change.
THE WAY, then, is my adult version of holding church in the driveway. It’s my second attempt at offering up a tangible vision of spirituality that is more balanced and inclusive. One that includes and honors the true value of women and girls, in its imagery, leadership, and practice. And one where we might dare to imagine the possibility that a great spiritual leader could be a woman.
I’m hopeful that someday the possibility of this new spiritual world will arise. And while it’s too late for the little girl in the driveway, it’s not too late for my child. Or for the children yet to come.
Please enjoy an excerpt from The Way by Kristen Wolf!
“Be a good girl and cover your face,” her mother counseled. Anna draped a shawl over her head and bound it halfway up her cheeks. She watched her mother arrange bowls of dates, cheese, and olives on a tray. She placed a pitcher of milk among the bowls and capped it with a square of linen. As her mother did these things, her hands came to rest on her swollen belly then flew off, repeatedly, like frightened doves.
“Hurry to Grandfather and be home before morning meal,” she said. She lowered the tray into her seven-year-old’s waiting hands. She pulled back the camel skin hide that hung across the front door. Anna’s head brushed the underside of her mother’s belly as she slipped around her and stepped, blinking, into the light.
Early morning had bathed the village in its usual peach wash. A liquid glow
dripped down straw roofs and reddened clay walls. The thirty or so dwellings in the village huddled together like squat toads.
Anna walked past the manger her father had built. Its thatched roof balanced sturdily on hand-carved wooden beams. Beneath, two cows and a small flock of goats sprawled about crunching mouthfuls of hay. When the smaller animals caught sight of the young girl, they nickered and trotted in pursuit.
Happy reading wherever you are and whenever you get a free chance!!!
2 Comments
by Samantha
thanks for being in the tour!
by The Every Free Chance Reader
It was my pleasure!!! =)