BOOK CLUB- June Picks
Meg’s Book Club introduces up-and-coming debut authors – one of my favorite things! For June, introducing the She Writes Press 2021 Cohort with a spotlight on authors Cindy Rasicot and Margaret Rodenberg.
Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand
By Cindy Rasicot
Cindy Rasicot’s book, Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand, has been s a #1 best seller in spirituality on Amazon.
Finding Venerable Mother This beautiful memoir, published in May 2020 describes Cindy’s personal journey with Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, a Thai Buddhist nun. During the three years Cindy lived in Thailand, she developed a powerful spiritual connection with her teacher who fully accepted and loved her in a way her own mother never could. Finding Venerable Mother describes Cindy’s journey of healing her mother-daughter wound, and offers this hopeful message when we go forward with a truly open heart, faith, love, and forgiveness are possible.
When Cindy moved to Thailand with her husband and teenage son in 2005, she found herself adrift in a foreign culture, unprepared for the challenges she encountered there. On an impulse, she signed up for a conference where she met Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni. During the three years Cindy lived in Thailand she underwent a personal transformation of emotional, physical, and spiritual healing through the loving acceptance of her teacher.
Inspiration Cindy’s inspiration to write this book was her teacher, Venerable Dhammananda, a remarkable Thai woman who defied odds and became the first female Buddhist monk in Thailand. At the time she was ordained, there were 300,000 male monks in Thailand and no ordained women. Dhammananda is both a feminist and a Buddhist monk who is dedicated to empowering women and improving their lives. She is a charismatic, compassionate, and engaging teacher, who loves to talk about Buddhism. As a result of writing her book, Cindy was inspired to create a new virtual series called Casual Buddhism which offers short, ten-minute conversations with Dhammananda about how to practice Buddhism in our everyday lives.
Recent episodes on hope and anger are available here: https://cindyrasicot.com/casual-buddhism/.
Other Details Cindy is a retired psychotherapist and author who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. She is available for book discussions and welcomes questions and comments at her email, cindy.rasicot@gmail.com
Buy her book on Amazon. https://cindyrasicot.com/finding-venerable-mother/
Finding Napoleon By Margaret Rodenberg
My passion for French history began when I lived in France as a young teen with my US Navy family. So, naturally, my debut novel—FINDING NAPOLEON—is historical fiction about Napoleon Bonaparte. But here you’ll see him from a new perspective without the battles, conquests, or geopolitics. I’m thrilled to add that FINDING NAPOLEON won the 2021 Gold Medal for “Best First Book: Fiction” in the Independent Publishers Book Awards.
Finding Napoleon Juxtaposing the idealism of Napoleon’s own unfinished romantic novel against his final desperate days in exile, this vivid tale of intrigue, passion, and betrayal co-stars a forgotten woman of history—the defeated Emperor’s last love, audacious Countess Albine.
After the defeated Emperor Napoleon goes into exile on tiny St. Helena Island in the remote South Atlantic, he and his lover, Albine de Montholon, plot to escape and rescue his young son. Banding together African slaves, British sympathizers, a Jewish merchant, a Corsican rogue, and French followers, they confront British opposition—as well as treachery within their own ranks.
When Napoleon and Albine break faith with one another, ambition and Albine’s husband threaten their reconciliation. To succeed, Napoleon must learn whom to trust. To survive, Albine must decide whom to betray.
Inspiration
When I learned that twenty-six-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte had tried to write a romance novel and that his manuscript still existed, I vowed to finish it for him. Now, in FINDING NAPOLEON, the aging defeated emperor finishes the story himself as a gift for his young son who’s been taken from him. For inspiration about his final years, I, too, traveled to tiny St. Helena Island in the remote South Atlantic where he was exiled and much of the novel takes place.
Other Details
Published: April 2021 Contact: margaret@mrodenberg.com Website: www.findingnapoleon.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margaretrodenberg/ Facebook Author: https://www.facebook.com/MargaretRodenberg.author
Give love to your imagination and your future by reading a new book!
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