Spiritual readers of all stripes will enjoy this meditation on the meaning of home and journey by the author of Remembering Well: Rituals for Celebrating Life and Mourning Death. York, a Unitarian Universalist minister, writes that all seekers are restless for spiritual homes, and the first step in finding them is to embark on a journey. York tells the story of her own journey, which includes a literal trek through Thailand and Nepal, as well as a metaphorical journey toward her own soul. During her trip abroad, York wrestles with the mundane: Will she be able to handle being out of communication with her husband for almost two weeks? Can her arthritis-wracked body withstand the physical rigors of the Himalayas? She also tackles loftier questions, musing about the integration of body and soul and weaving the story of her Asian trip with tales of other homes, spiritual and literal. She talks about her beloved homestead in North Carolina, where her stepson tragically killed himself in 1998; after his death, York returned to the house to clear it out. Her foray into this home ("Home is where the grief is," she recorded in her journal at the time) is one of the most moving passages of the book. York returns from her spiritual and physical journeys feeling, quite simply, more "at home at home"; her audience will no doubt feel that way, too, after reading this lovely book. (May)
Forecast: This book's ties with the booming market in spiritual travel and pilgrimage books will surely help sales, as will its inviting foreword by well-known spirituality writer Thomas Moore. Jossey-Bass plans a 14-city author tour (with the possibility of another tour in the fall), chapter one will be excerpted in
New Age Journal's July/August issue and Wisdom TV will tape an hour-long segment with the author for its
Living in Balance program this fall.
