May Books

This set is a TOOL that will help you on your journey. Some find it difficult to viualize and understand deep abstract spiritual concepts. This set helps to manifest them in the physical world. If we are open and honest with ourselves the set will show us our obstacles and how to overcome them using OUR own intuition. I highly recommend it if and only if you are serious about healing and Enlightenment.

I Love this Kit. The kit was exceptional for attaining self-awareness. I used Dr. May's cards to create my inner journey and read the enclosed book to delve into deeper insight on various daily meditative and ordinary questions. This kit is one of a kind! How fabulous to share this with the world. Dr. May's kit uses spirituality to go to new levels of self awareness. She ties in traditional Reiki with modern techniques to gain and further development. This is a must for those who use hands on daily meditatiive tools!

Archetypal Reiki draws on ancient spiritual traditions to incorporate modern psychological concepts for all around personal growth and healing.

In Dr. May's style (see her previous work: Codependency: PowerLoss, SoulLoss), it is not a conventional book to be read from cover to cover. Rather, it is a companion to be used regularly or as needed to assist the user in self-discovery and improvement.

Archetypal Reiki is a kit including a small card deck and a "user manual". Used together, the cards and manual become a practical guide which helps identify personal areas where work is needed and suggests creative ways in which to approach this work.

Its design is attractive with energizing colors and symbolic drawings-the slightly asymetrical design of the cards gives them a useful vertical dimension to work with opposite sides of a given concept's continuum. This kit offers a wide variety of ways to unleash its guiding energy. For instance, the "user manual" provides detailed instructions with useful diagrams for various levels of work intensity. This makes the use of this kit accessible by the novice as well as the experienced Reiki practitioner.

Archetypal Reiki is highly recommended as an original and practical companion for personal growth and healing.

As a Reiki / Karuna Ki Master & Teacher trained in the Usui Reiki tradition I honor Dr May for her Courage in going against the norm and compiling an amazing set.

The teachings in the book are truly inspired and can only benefit the reader in their own inner journey. I use my cards on a daily basis and have found that they not only reinforce the sacred teachings of Dr Usui, but also those passed on by Mrs Takata ...who taught that we are to follow our own intuition and be individual.

The Traditions and Teachings have been passed down in an easily understood and honest way, allowing not only Reiki initiates, but also others interested in this healing modality to proceed along there quest for enlightenment. By just reading and working through the book one comes to grips with the basic teachings of the Reiki Principles. If we can all embrace this way of thinking and become whole and happy within ourselves this world will truly be a better place for each and every one of us.

As Dr May indicates at the Beginning of the Book this is not a replacement for formal Training and without initiation into the Reiki Symbols, they can not be used for healing, however just by embracing the teachings and living in harmony we can all take the first step to becomming whole.

Dr May has opened a whole new generation to this most wonderful gift from the universe and I personally will be using my cards both for myself and also as part of my workshops in future.

I wholeheartedly recommend this product as a tool to guide us through the emotional/sense issues we all experience. These cards and the accompanying book gently lead us to explore our inner self, how we play a part in our own suffering and a loving path to choose more positive approaches to better self awareness. I use it almost everyday as a reminder to be kind to myself, to be aware of all that is my life and to look forward to what is yet to come. It is fun, it is positive and it is easy. You must try it!!!

This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. A friend passed this onto me and I remember reading the first 20 pages on a bus and not being able to stop crying. It was so beautiful and it made me look at myself and others differently. The one thing that we are all searching for is Love. That is the fundamental purpose of life. Absolutely amazing book in it's simplicity and beauty.

What a deeply enriching book! I have had to read it a few pages at a time to savor and feel my way through what is being said. I reccommend this book to any spiritual seeker, even though the book is loosely Christian in orientation.

This author is the best contemporary spiritual guide I have. I wish he would write more!!

I actually bought this book because I thought it would help me open up to *romantic* love, as in, to meeting my potential partner/soul mate/twin flame. It was none of that, but it did help me open up to Love -- the greater love for life, for people, and especially for myself and God.

This book was not an easy read, but it was worth it. While reading, little light bulbs went on in my mind as several realizations became clear and obvious. I've read a great deal of spiritual material before, and had become almost against the word 'God' because it connotes a judgmental creature looking down upon us. This book does not go into "defining" God, but refers to the term a lot. As a result, I was able to return to being okay with the word and really feel what Gerald May was talking about.

It was really worth the money, and it's one of those books that you read 2 years later and realize how much deeper is becomes the next time around.

It happens that sometimes in moments of silence, honesty and surrender we become aware of our deep desire for love - both to love and to be loved. This deep desire is our true nature and it is God's life in us. This is May's simple thesis. The power and beauty of his book is that he unabashedly celebrates this love and slowly gets us to become aware of and appreciate its presence and also to recognize the ways we seek to stifle it or twist it or run away from it and some of the reasons why we do this. Like his other works, May here again blends his unique experiences of prayer and psychology into a touching re-affirmation of our heart's basic goodness. His book opens an inner door to a greater trust in the instincts, intuitions and spontaneous acts of love that arise from that sacred space. How courageous for a man to write about and value the apparent "weaknesses" and "vulnerabilities" of love in a time when the "virtues" of efficiency and action are so exalted. By now, having read most of his works, I feel like a friend. And so as a friend, I say, thank-you Jerry.

This was not a book I could read without stopping. It's truth hits my heart hard; and gives it pause. Each page invites meditation. I will keep it in my library for further study. It gives Amazing Insights to the connection between mental and spiritual health.

Five years ago, after her husband was killed, Millicent Wentworth went about trying to right all the wrongs her husband commited. Millicent knew from experience exactly what the slaves had to endure at the hands of her brutal husband. Given into marriage by her uncle who only wanted to get rid of her, Millicent was more than relieved to become a widow. Then her husband's creditor, Jasper Hyde, started calling in her debts. When the dowager countess of Aytuon requests that she marry her son in return for all her debts to be paid, Millicent's refuses, for she knows she can never endure being a man's possession again. When the dowager talks her into it, Millicent has no idea how much her husband will come to mean to her, or how wrong for him she is.

Lyon Pennington, Earl of Aytuon didn't care one way or another if he was married. Crippled on the night that his wife fell off a cliff, Lyon took refuge in the medicine that the doctors insisted he take. When taken to Melbury Hall, he soon is brought out of his drug induced stupor by the woman he doesn't recall, but knew he married.

I would give this book six stars if I could. Millicent is one of my favorite historical heroines. With her courage and compassion, Millicent saved many lives, include Lyon's. Even after getting through five hellish years of marriage and almost dying, Millicent still has good in her heart. McGoldrick brings the reader two people who help each other come to terms with their pasts and heal their hearts, all while falling in love. The secondary characters in this book are unforgettable. The whole storyline was great, not like most historicals where the most pressing issue is what is fasionable to wear.

Don't miss it!

I haven't even finished this book and I can rate it already. Have had all of her books for quite some time but waiting for my daughter to read. I am finally reading them and I am so sorry I took this long to do it. I find it hard to believe that the last one is only rated four stars.
The thing I love so much about this book (don't get me wrong, have loved them all) is the way Millicent & Lyon "Aytoun" interact. Their verbal encounters are so very real. It makes you feel like you could be in the room with them. Even though he is an Earl of the peerage and she is highborn, Jim & Nikoo are able to make it quite everyday. I don't know if I am speaking of this correctly but this book is by far one of the """BEST""" books I have ever read. All of her books are on my KEEPER shelf. The thing of it is...I DON'T WANT IT TO END. :):):)

The McGoldrick team has released another winner. This is a wonderful story about overcoming adversity. The supporting characters were exceptional. All around a great read. This was a great beginning to a new series. I am in anticipation of the brother's stories.

In 1772 though she owes a fortune due to her nasty deceased husband's debts to Jasper Hyde, Millicent Wentworth spends more than she can afford to buy an elderly Jamaican slave. Millicent immediately frees Ohenewaa while Jasper goes wild over learning he was outbid because he obsesses over owning the aging former slave.

Needing money badly, Millicent agrees to wed Lyon Pennington, a wealthy invalid wallowing in self-pity. His family pays off her debts and he is moved to her home where many free former slaves earn a wage. As Millicent pushes Lyon around and with the aid Ohenewaa a healer, he begins to recover much of what he lost in the accident that left his first wife dead. As the English couple falls in love, Jasper becomes desperate to get hold of Ohenewaa so he can force her to "free" him from her curse. He is willing to kill anyone in his way of achieving his goal.

This engaging Georgian romance works on several layers besides the obvious romance between the lead couple. The secondary players provide depth to the high morality of the prime protagonists so that the audience feels the mental anguish and physical pain of Lyon and the need bordering on guilt for Millicent to make retribution for her odious first husband's treatment of people. Though the Jasper subplot adds little to the prime tale except suspense and action, sub-genre readers will strike gold with this deep tale.

Harriet Klausner

Millicent and Lyon marry for conviences; for her, it's to save her estate and help her people; for him, it's a matter of indifference. Lyon can't walk and has sunk into a deep depression. His mother instigates the marriage, hoping that Millicent will either care for her son humanely (as she refused to send him to Bedlam, as everyone else wishes) or find a way to help him.

Both characters are stubborn and likeable, human and heroic.

On a side note, a husband and wife authored this book. It's rare to find romances written written by a team of writers, especially one that is male. I hope they write more books together!

I am a proud Jersey Girl and my family and I visit Cape May every summer. I was thrilled to discover a book that captures the essence of this very magical place--in all seasons! I especially enjoyed the beautiful Christmas time photos, as I have never been able to visit Cape May during the winter months. Overall, a very enjoyable and beautiful book!

THIS BOOK IS GREAT FOR ANYONE WHO ONLY THINKS OF CAPE MAY AS A SUMMER TOWN. THE MANY BEAUTIFUL PICTURES WILL SHOW JUST HOW WONDERFUL THIS BEAUTIFUL TOWN IS ALL THE TIME. MY ONLY WORRY IS THAT EVEN MORE PEOPLE WILL BE HERE AFTER SEEING THE TOWN IN ALL SEASONS.

I was so pleased after I read the book. I am a big fan of Cape May and I try and go often during the summer. After reading the book, I'll be visiting every season!

Cape May is a beautiful town in New Jersey that my family and I visit every summer. Every time I leave, I wish I could take a piece of Cape May home with me. Now that I have Mary McCarthy's book, I can visit as often as I like. The book really does capture the essence of Cape May. I highly reccommend buying the book.

The color photography is beautiful and is the best Cape May has ever seen- we are really enjoying the book for when we can't be in Cape May

The book is marvelous. One can debate his thinking, but that's what he invites the reader to do. Although the book was written in the 1960s, it's relevant today. What's our world-view regarding matters outside of morality and church? One will be surprised to find that perhaps they're as secular in their thinking as their neighbors. How do we think about things of culture and politics? It's well worth the read.

I was assigned this book for a college course and was greatly surprised at its quality. Blamires had C.S. Lewis as a tutor, and I've read some of Lewis's writings and have found them to be above average but not particularly special (many people do find his works special of course). Blamires, on the other hand, I find to be very unique - his book is top quality and very helpful. I'm surprised this isn't a very popular book, as it ought to be.

I have only two complaints, both of which are purely stylistic. First, the edition I have looks like it's a copy of an earlier edition, which makes the text hard to read (I got used to it after a while though). Some publisher should take it upon themself to retype this book and republish it. My second criticism is something that can't be avoided - the book was originally written in the early sixties, so a lot of the examples are dated (i.e. references to WWII, which was still in memory, also out-of-date terms like "jive", etc.). However, just a few of the examples are affected by this. The book as a whole could be reasonably passed off today as a recent work, since so much Blamires's criticism of the Christian mind (or lack thereof) still (sadly) applies.

However, the Christian mind today is being rediscovered, and the march of atheism is on the decline, with the march of religion in general on the rise. Even though things are looking up, Christians should keep Blamires's book in mind - not to get too comfortable with this (secular) world, for our real home is beyond bodily death. That we ought to have a supernatural orientation is basically the theme and summary of this book.

Superb book, and I really recommend this to anyone. This is definitely recommended for Christians, and also for any non-Christian who are curious and want to take a look at some of the problems Christians have today.

Blamires extols the virtues of the Christian mind and then observes that it has been lost. In society the Christian has become a joke. The hope of our faith is now laughed at by some. Why? The Christian Mind. Reading this book or others by C.S. Lewis or Dorothy Sayers will help develop your Christian mind and hopefully make it clear why it is so vital. Christians should read. The study guide following the book was fairly useless. The book is top notch.

I was introduced to Blamires from his work on James Joyce's Ulysses. I figured anyone that could bring the clarity he did to Joyce's work is worth reading. I was not disappointed.

Blamires work is a self-examination. Throughout the book, I found myself saying; "That's me." I remember a reporter asking Mother Theresa why she bothered with people that are only going to be dead in a few hours. Without a blink, she answered, "They will live for eternity."

Blamires does not attack the secular mind (not in this work, anyway) he just shows how Christians have been conditioned to think secularly, to their lost.

Blamires work is clear and extremely well written. The reader will quickly see the influence of C.S. Lewis.

Here is a book which I can unreservedly recommend to anyone who is currently thinking about how they should think. Of course, Blamires (pronounced "the choirs") is addressing himself mainly to the Christian reader, but ALL readers can benefit from this exclusively Christian author who is honest enough to begin his book with the words... "There is no longer a Christian mind." If you have ever wondered why Christian "thought" seems increasingly irrelevant, read this book and find out many of the reasons why your hunch is PERHAPS justified. I started to fold back the top corner of pages that I found especially illuminating, until I realized that I might as well just fold up the entire book. (see title of this review).

The author's call for the recovery of the authentic Christian mind is not a call for the abolition of, nor even the belittling of, the secular mind. It is a call for the critical understanding of the difference between the two. This difference forms the fundamental premise of the book, which is thus: "To think secularly is to think within a frame of reference bounded by the limits of our life here on earth: it is to keep one's calculations rooted in this-worldly criteria. To think christianly is to accept all things with the mind as related, directly or indirectly, to man's eternal destiny as the redeemed and chosen child of God."

I especially appreciated the fact that Blamires posits a form of critical thinking that is predominantly POSITIVE. He legitamizes the need for examination of world views (in literature for instance) which the Christian may disagree with or even abhor, but laments the lack of current Christian dialogue regarding these views. There are issues in the human situation which may touch us pre-eminently "as a Christian" but the tragedy is that too often the only way we can pursue these currents of thought is by "more reading of non-Christian literature written by skeptics, and by discussion of it within the intellectual frame of reference which these skeptics have manufactured." This is sad and regettable, because the eternal perspective of the Christian mind is meant to challenge secular thinking, not be undermined by it. But how will it challenge, if it refuses to think? Be assured that the secular mindset will not hesitate to fill such a void. Indeed, from the first sentence onward, Blamires shows that we are living in a time when such temporal thinking prevails. Even so, the book has much POSITIVE to say to those who choose (at some point) to understand the nature of Christian truth as being objective, authoritative, unshakable, and God-given.

DearJuliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley is both biography and autobiography, plus a rich example of the nearly lost art of letter-writing. May Sarton wrote to Juliette Huxley between the years 1936 and 1948, then resumed in 1976 until about a month and a half before her beloved Juliette died in l994. These letters reveal the growth of the human being, May Sarton from the age of 23 until she was in her eighties: the breath of her interests, her passions, her humor, her anquishes and most of all her deep love for a remarkable woman, Juliette. In her preface and footnotes, the editor Susan Sherman, broadens the scope of the book into a biography by filling in the details about the people and events that May writes of. As both women were fluent in French, May often slipped into that language as she wrote. Susan Sherman¹s translations are extremely helpful. This is a book one wants to own, so to savor a few delightful (and some very sad) letters at a time. As a whole it reveals a much more truthful picture of May Sarton than Margot Peters¹ recent biography.

DearJuliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley is both biography and autobiography, plus a rich example of the nearly lost art of letter-writing. May Sarton wrote to Juliette Huxley between the years 1936 and 1948, then resumed in 1976 until about a month and a half before her beloved Juliette died in l994. These letters reveal the growth of the human being, May Sarton from the age of 23 until she was in her eighties: the breath of her interests, her passions, her humor, her anquishes and most of all her deep love for a remarkable woman, Juliette. In her preface and footnotes, the editor Susan Sherman, broadens the scope of the book into a biography by filling in the details about the people and events that May writes of. As both women were fluent in French, May often slipped into that language as she wrote. Susan Sherman¹s translations are extremely helpful. This is a book one wants to own, so to savor a few delightful (and some very sad) letters at a time. As a whole it reveals a much more truthful picture of May Sarton than Margot Peters¹ recent biography.

In this book of letters, rich in description of life before, during, and after the war, Sarton's inner climate and varied landscape are revealed in fascinating detail. Readers find fertile ground for contemplation of who Sarton really was and why this friendship endured. *Dear Juliette* contains extraordinarily detailed notes researched by Susan Sherman who is knowledgeable about her subject from both personal and scholarly perspectives. Providing a palette of color and shading in emotional texture as well as factual background, Sherman's notes add tremendous depth to the story Sarton tells. The preface gives the reader insightful information about Sarton's complicated temperament and brings clarity and understanding to the canvas. This is Sarton at her best: with the transparency she so valued telling her readers about the most remarkable love of her life.....her dear Juliette.

From Erika Pfander Director of the Chamber Theatre of Maine; Director and Producer of May Sarton's only plays: "The Music Box Bird" and "The Underground River"

DEAR JULIETTE; LETTERS OF MAY SARTON TO JULIETTE HUXLEY

Readers of May Sarton-whose numbers are legion- must indeed be grateful for Susan Sherman, the gifted editor of this exquisite book. As official editor of Sarton's letters Ms. Sherman is undertaking the herculean task of compiling and editing Sarton's voluminous correspondences: it is clear from what she has given us in this richly rewarding volume(and,two previous volumes: May Sarton: AMONG THE USUAL DAYS and MAY SARTON; SELECTED LETTERS (1916-1954), that she is uniquely qualified for the task.

Sherman is a writer of grace,wisdom,and integrity-evidenced by her sensitive selection of letters and photographs, and her illuminating notes and preface. This volume is a gift to all Sarton's readers, for the letters let us hear Sarton's voice at every stage of her life. While the journals, which have moved and inspired so many-with their bracing honesty,intelligence,and keen observation of nature (human and otherwise)-are full of the richness and challenges of daily life in her middle and late years, their references to the past are memories.

Her letters, however, are those memories, as well as each day's life as it was lived, and they reveal her ardent, vibrant mind and sensitive spirit. Throughout her life she was a seeker of beauty,justice,and truth-and thus was vulnerable to(but not diminished by) heartache and disappointment. Her involvement with the Huxleys spanned the years 1936-1948; her deep love for, and abiding friendship with Juliette survived a 25 year silence,and when renewed-lasted until Juliette's death,a year before May's own death in 1995. What a delicate balance, that three-way relationship [Julian-May-Juliette]-and what a privilige to be given an intimate view of this remarkable friendship between two extraordinary women set against extraordinary times.

Susan Sherman, editor of Dear Juliette, was bequeathed the challenge of bringing to life Sarton's relationship with Juliette Huxley. Too frail and in ill health to complete the process of selecting and editing hundreds of letters and completing an introduction that would preface this story, Sarton asked Ms. Sherman to complete the work. As editor of previous volumes of Sarton's unpublished poems and letters, including May Sarton Among the Usual Days and May Sarton: Selected Letters 1916-1954, Ms. Sherman was well qualified to bring this project to fruition, the results of which are this monumental achievement presenting the immortalization of the "ethos of a love affair." In a letter written to Juliette in 1937 Sarton comments: "How difficult it is to love well - to know when it is better to be silent, that even joy can strain the heart so frightfully - though in general everything that denies life seems false to me." (63)* That comment sums up a great deal of Sarton's feelings about human relationships and would remain essentially the same throughout her life. She could not deny love, regardless of the pain, suffering, fear or misunderstanding that may develop. Sarton first met the Huxleys, Julian and Juliette, in 1936. This meeting would change her life forever. Ironically, she first shared a love affair with Julian Huxley, biologist and then Director of the London Zoo. It was through this affair that Sarton grew to realize her real passion was reserved for women, as she explained to Julian in a letter: ". . . there is a part of me perhaps the writing part that needs a woman as a man needs a woman. ... However much one loves there are things one can't do against one's own spirit." (70) It was the writing part of her, the poet, who fell in love with Juliette. Juliette became Sarton's muse as poetry flowed from her pen. "One of the great virtues [of poetry] is that power to say an apparently unsayable thing quite simply." (44) Yet this love, as intense and powerful as it was, was not destined to be fully reciprocated. Juliett's fear and misunderstanding eventually dictated a twenty-seven year separation which was only overcome upon the death of Julian Huxley in the mid 1970s. Eventually May Sarton and Juliette Huxley were reuinited, the circle of the ethos of their love affair was completed. The intervening years of silence had not destroyed the love Sarton held for Juliette, it had just tempered it. ". . . the pain is no longer acute; joy is no longer as intense as one looks back." (295) But the letters and poetry that were written around this passionate friendship remain and are a testament to its endurance. They underscore Sarton's presceint statement from 1948: "I would race through the years to meet you at the other end." (241) *page numbers are from the text of Dear Juliette Lenora P. Blouin Author: May Sarton: A Bibliography Scarecrow Press, 1978 Forthcoming: May Sarton: A Revised Bibliography Scarecrow Press, 2000

Thank you to Jim Matteson for reading every scrap the Alcotts left behind and digesting it into this wonderful dual biography.

I was a young reader of Little Women (maybe 10 times) and the rest of the series. Later as an adult, I never quite put together the pieces the family. Now I know how the Alcotts fit in with Emerson and Thoreau, the role of Fruitlands in the life of the Alcotts and how it was the Amy came to marry Laurie.

The above paragraph could sound flip without the understanding of how Louisa's fiction was a byproduct of both her father's idealism and his inability to support his family. Louisa would be his standard bearer, but she would at all costs, support the family.

Bronson's philosophy of education was ahead of his time. While it can be debated whether his career ending publications served the cause, it is clear, it did not serve the family well. Followed by a second public humiliation in the touted but failed Fruitlands experiment, you can imagine the grief of a former idealist with a young family to feed.

How many father's careers have been rescued by their children... and in the 19th century... any by their daughters? In the case of the Alcotts, it is more than a career redeemed, it is also values and virtues.

Matteson gives a wonderfully readable dual biography. He sticks with his thesis. It's good that he resisted the temptation to delve into the other interesting personalities of the time. Just like when I first read Little Women, I didn't want this book to end.

This is an engaging work of nonfiction. Matteson delivers a well written, fact driven, story about the interwoven lives of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott. Wonderfully rendered, it's never boring. Definitely worth a read if you're interested in 19th century women, writers, or history in general.

A well writen biography of one of the 19th. Centuries least famous literary families...The Alcotts father Bronson, mother Abba and daughters Elizabeth "Lizzy", Lousia May, Anna and May...This is a book without training wheels Professor Matterson leaves it to the reader to be familuar with Transdentialism, Godwinism, American Putitainism the lives of Hawthorne, Thoreau (Brothers), Enerson, the Lake District Poets, Wordsworth, Carisle etc. he doesn't take the time to inform the reader how they fit in to the Alcotts story...The heart of the book deals with the relationships bewteen Bronson Alcott and disgruntled Puritain turn Emerson transdentalist (Americas first hippie)and his cast of daughters who were as individual and different from each other as they could be...Louisa May the number two daughter is the focus of that relationship but her three sidters play strong supporting roles...If 19th. Century American Literature is of interest to you and you have done the prerequsites this will be an enjoyable read that will advance your knowledge of a most interesting if disfunctional family that played an inportant role in both literature and philosophy.

The author manages to do justice to both his subjects, Louisa May Alcott and her father. He also creates an excellent picture of the time and explains the transcendtalist movement. Besides L.M. Alcott and B. Alcott one learns a lot about Emerson, Thoreau, Elizabeth Peabody and other luminaries of the time. The book is fact driven, there are often long quotations from original material and it is very well written. A most enlightening book, bringing its subjects and their surroundings to life. I originally bought this book becasue of my interst in L.M. Alcott but by the end I found her father at least as interesting.
I read this book like a thriller, finishing it in three days.

I agree with all the other reviewers, this is an outstanding biography. It is also something of a cautionary tale of the utopian urge that occasionally effects intellectuals. Never able to support his family, Bronson Alcott persisted in searching for a heaven on earth. His actions to actually create such a place are very sad.

Eden!!!!!!!!! The gravity of the situation will suck you in with such a vengeance, that your eyes will be glued to every word, while your hands try to keep up with the page turning!!!....then make you wonder what the hell..I feel your PAIN Daniel.....at the same time your left pondering if there is more to the story!! Its truly is a story that encompasses the circle of life, and reminds us just how much truth there is....if we open our eyes, minds, and hearts! Kev, I'm keeping on driving! GREAT JOB!!!! Can not wait to read your next work of art!

Daniel's journey begins in a fashion that would be familiar to any who love to travel. The rhythm of trains rolling through medieval landscapes is the soundtrack of anticipation of what lies ahead. But what lies ahead for Daniel is anything but familiar or ordinary.

Soon, his extraordinary encounters with interesting character after interesting character breed internal conflict and Daniel finds himself in a struggle between good and evil. His weekend getaway takes the reader on an ever accelerating rollercoaster right up until its thrilling end.

With the current climate in America & the World, this book makes you stop and think about our place in the world and the space between where we are going compared to where we want to be. I highly recommend this great read for anyone who is on a journey of self-discovery in a world of materialism and sensationalism. It gives pause and consideration, and a chance to get closer to what we seek in our own lives.

You will be driven to finish this once you have started reading. As Daniel weaves his way throught lifes's journey he discovers the complex trials that must be navigated by the human race. Good and evil being an ever-present battle makes for a gripping story. You will not be sorry that you have explored the intrigue waiting for you. Hope that Kev has another novel in the making.

Also in the figurative sense, you can't put this book down. The ideas creep into your mind even after you've read it, which I am currently doing for the second time. It's quite a layered journey; it's quite a trip. Take it with you mind, heart, and soul. Don't look for answers, but perhaps create new questions. This would be a great book for a book club, or to read in tandem with your best friend, spouse, or whoever.

I usually read non-fiction when I need help getting to sleep. Not so, Enigma Woman. I was up until 1:00 A.M. finishing it.

Well written, good historical background, and an exciting real life story.

I highly recommend this book. But don't plan on falling asleep reading it.

This book is about my aunt(through marriage) and I personally know the author did a lot of research. I commend her.

This book has something for everyone. It's a compelling crime drama, a carefully layered character study and a cultural history that provides insights into gender roles, the legal system and the media of the 1930s and the 1940s.

Nellie May Madison was an unusual and at times a desperate woman, but she found the inner strength to avoid being a victim on two occasions. The author masterfully re-creates her story, including pain-staking research about her Montana pioneer family.

The book has lots of surprising legal twists and turns. But what sets it apart is the larger story it tells about the life and times of Southern California during that period.

One note of caution: don't start the book if you need to go to bed early, I couldn't put it down.

I first became aware of Nellie Madison in the summer of 2006 when I was told that she was buried at the historic Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernadino, CA. Well, I was told that a "woman who was on death row" was buried there, but no further information was given. A few months later I located Nellie's victim, her husband Erik Madison, at Vallhala Cemetery in North Hollywood and the pieces of the puzzle all came together. Then I heard that Proferssor Cairns was about to publish a book about the entire case! Talk about it being a small world.

The book is excellent. Sources are cited throughout, no tabloid style writing, no sensational prose. A welcome relief from most true crime stories. She did an amazing amount of research, interviewing people connected to Nellie, obtaining archival photos, everything you would hope to see but rarely do.

Nellie Madison's story deserved to be told, and Ms. Cairns did an excellent job sharing it.

The doctrine of self-defense has always required an "imminent" danger. To a man, "retreat" involves a physical act. But a beaten woman who decides to get her man before he gets her often preemptively strikes while he's incapacitated.

Alas, the law has always shaken a finger at slaying a sleeping drunk.

Nellie Madison woman shot her sleeping husband in the back, and the lawyers and the press didn't know what to make of it. Indeed, her lawyer kicked women off the jury and refused to put on the evidence that would explain why she did it, and the puzzled jurors contemplated the bloody bed set up in the courtroom and sentenced her to hang.

This book finally tells us the entire tale of Nellie Madison for the first time, and it is so terrifically researched, so well put together, you might forget the story took place in 1934. It's supposed to be an "academic" book, and was published by The University of Nebraska Press, yet it's anything but a stuffy academic treatment, and it's a physically lovely, beautifully produced book.

The crime rags were quick to put a moniker on Mrs. Madison, referring to her as "a real-life Roxie Hart," among other names, and dubbed her crime one of the most mysterious in the annals. An investigator called her "the coolest woman I have ever questioned."

Purple prose never fades, and the author couldn't help but quote some of the press accounts. My favorite, courtesy the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express:

"Like the opening of a detective mystery will be the prosecution's evidence in the trial of the comely 'enigma woman.' There will be told in court the screams of a woman at midnight, excited footfalls in dim halls. Then, like the closing chapters of a 'thriller,' in which the mystery is solved, the story of Mrs. Madison will unroll before the jury, providing, it is hoped by the defendant and her counsel, an adequate excuse for blasting Eric Madison into eternity as he lay on his bed that fateful night."

She was an unusual woman; she began her marital adventures at 13 and was divorced several times -- this when divorce rates were in the single digits -- and yet she never had children.

Then she bought a handgun and made herself a widow. Witnesses originally thought the gunshots came from the adjacent Warner Brothers Studio. Despite the Hollywood backdrop, Nellie May missed her cue; she didn't weep into her handkerchief for the press. Indeed she refused to say anything at all about the murder until she was behind bars and sentenced to swing.

Then she told a story of rib-cracking abuse -- and it was backed up by the dead man's other loves, who told virtually identical stories of stranglings and beatings and humiliations that the flashpoint-tempered Eric Madison heaped upon the many women in his shortened life.

The Enigma Woman is a wonderful piece of storytelling, masterfully constructed, and the author obviously put many miles on her car getting the full story. I wish I'd written it, and I stand in awe of anyone who can glean so many fascinating details from a case that's coated in decades of dust.

I also noticed Amazon is pairing it for sale with The Good-Bye Door, the book out last fall about electrocuted 1930s serial killer Anna Hahn, another I enjoyed very much for the same qualities.

The Enigma Woman is top-shelf stuff for votaries of high quality historic crime stories. Professor Cairns will keep you mesmerized in contemplation of a most curious murder case, one in which our recalcitrant heroine could not speak until she was within the shadows of the gallows, one in which the victim may well have had it coming in spades and by golly got it.

Spirituality is something of which I have always been skeptical. Because I don't know much about it, apart from organized religion as it pertains to Christianity, I approached this book with a certain amount of dubiousness. I was determined to view it in an entirely objective manner. I am still unsure about the subject matter to an extent, but one thing is certain. It is not possible to read "Eyes of Sophia" without being pulled right in to the heart of the story.

This is the true, non-fiction tale of Alan, a retired art teacher, and Donna, a massage therapist and healer. Unknown to each other, and unbeknownst to each other, they both asked for direction and opened themselves up to spiritual guidance at critical times in their lives.

Donna's utilitarian question and subsequent dream led her on a quest. During this search she met Alan - a chance meeting which would turn out to be not coincidental at all. For it was revealed to Donna that Alan was the crux of her search - he was, metaphorically, the Tin Man, and it was Donna's altruistic purpose to help him find his heart. This in turn resulted in photographs of Donna in which confirming images were manifest. Among them, the eyes of Sophia. Donna's dream had come to fruition.

The ideology in this book comes from many different areas of spiritualism and religion. For me, this was a colossal learning experience.

What struck me most throughout the story were the synchronicities; not mere coincidences, but parallels between Donna's discoveries and Alan's life. There were so many of these on myriad levels, simultaneously chaotic and structured. It was incredible to learn that different events and occurrences are actually connected, and consolidate to form a big picture. Just when you think the various threads are too many and too unrelated, they are all pulled together and make perfect sense. The closed mind could never see these, but when pointed out they are obvious. It has inspired me to become more alert for synchronicity in my own life: there is much I may already have missed by not being aware. If Donna had not been so vigilant and acted directly on her true feelings, she may never have found Alan, and then he may never have found his heart. Two people would then have missed a chance at becoming their "authentic selves".

"Eyes of Sophia" is stimulating, intriguing, and at times pleasantly puzzling. Although a spiritual book, it offers benefit for all. This journey of two people is shared philanthropically to encourage, to inspire, and to affirm that it is indeed possible to find your heart.

In this book, Donna May and Alan Chien have shared the very interesting, unusual means by which they found each other, and what they learned from signposts along the way. In the process, the reader is presented with evidence of universal principles at work beyond our own intellect, that give form to the nature of unfolding events that we experience throughout our lives.

Relationships are among the most important alchemical caldrons of the soul, where we come to understand universal truths about ourselves, and realize the integration between the intellectual aspect of self and the spiritual nature of self. These truths, preserved also throughout centuries of mythological stories, go beyond personal opinion and religious or cultural dogma; they reveal to us directly and individually the true spirituality behind all life. Among many universal principles involved, philosophers have also provided written explanations. Jacob Boehme wrote long ago of his concept of counterpoise between good and evil, and Benedict Spinoza of his view of the organic interdependence in the necessity for all life. The choices that we make are choices that ideally are considered the "best for all concerned." However, "right" in one's judgment may be considered "wrong" to another, but as life unfolds, we see that what manifests is not necessarily what we would call "good or bad", and may be simply "necessary" for all concerned, all known and unknown matters considered.

Eyes of Sophia is about the Light of knowledge expressing through material conditions, providing important signposts uniquely meaningful to us, that help us to use wisdom in making appropriate choices affecting not only ourselves, but others, too. In following the way of the heart - Donna sees her significant dreaming experiences transcended as they are mirrored as synchronicities in reality. Also, "Tin Man" sings, "cause never was the reason;" of this, Alan realizes, "We seem to want to manipulate the lines of intention building our lives, but we can only follow their lead and choose within whatever is presented." In our dance of counterpoise with life's experiences, two intertwining threads make and remake our destiny: life's "Hermetic" reason for what we experience on Earth, and the choices we make while personally applying our own "reason" into the mix.

This would be an excellent "primer" for those who want to read metaphysics in action that goes beyond philosophical and theoretical treatises, into manifested reality. Eyes of Sophia is an easy to read documentation of Donna's and Alan's real life blueprint from a dream, to Love's union.

Coincidence has now become a dusty old relic in my dictionary of terms. Have always wished for 'just the right' term for what I knew was more than mere coincidence and after reading this book I now have it. Synchronicities, our lives are so filled with them and few of us heed them as did Donna May.

Eyes of Sophia enabled me to see with much greater understanding, 'the other side of the coin' in terms of relationships and what sometimes may be painful is part of a much greater plan over which we really have no control.

The photos were spectacular and the romance even more so. Having just read once again, 'The Mists of Avalon', it seemed quite COINCIDENTAL that the story also focused on 'The Tin Man' containing the words Sir Galahad!

Hopefully we will hear more from these two romantics and believers in Synchronocities.

This book is a deliciously suspenseful true love story that describes how Donna May met the man of her dreams, Alan Chien. While we know from the start where this love story will end, we don't know how two people from such different walks of life who don't know one another can recognize each other after their first chance meeting.

Told alternately from Donna's and Alan's point of view, this story demonstrates the way synchronicity operates in real life. Donna enters the story as an experienced healer, energy worker, and dream interpreter who is learning to better understand how to communicate with spirit. Alan just begins to discover these things as he witnesses first-hand the way Donna's waking dreams have real-life significance, and begins to find meaning in coincidental happenings in his life as well. Both Donna and Alan discover a deeper sense of love and connection between each other and all that is, as they learn to trust their hearts and spirits to guide their lives.

When I meet couples for the first time, I almost always ask them, "How did you two get together?", because I love to glimpse the way the spirit behind physical things pulls us closer to those we need at just the right time in our life. "Eyes of Sophia" shares these gifts of spirit with us as it opens and reveals a world of interpreting dream symbols, physical pain in our bodies, coincidences and synchronicities. This book shows how even the occasional disappointments and set-backs along the way have meaning, and are part of the grand design of life. I love the way this book effectively demonstrates how the more closely we observe the details (names, articles, dates, songs), the more meaningful our own life story can become. Donna May and Alan Chien's autobiographical tale is exactly the kind of sign-post people need to find the spiritual meaning behind coincidences in their lives, and learn how to live a dream-come-true.

This was very entertaining to read and it was different to read a story like this that is a true one. But it was so much more than that. I learned so much about how to get out of my own way in order to let my best come to me. It was easy to see when I was reading it and thought of myself and others I see that we block our own happiness and good things coming to us because we are afraid to act on the very feelings that will allow it to come to us. This is a little hard to explain but when you read it its easy to understand.

I will never ever again not do what is in my heart of hearts even if it is in against what somebody else thinks or what I grew up learning was the way to do it. I want what the magic they found and they make me understand how to go about it. By the time I got to the last chapter I had changed my whole thinking around about alot of things. Then I got to the last chapter and the pictures and wasn't just thinking different but knew that this is story is more than just written by people but is a story that also comes from somewhere far beyond here and from something much bigger than people.

Alan Chein says in the beginning that it was a gift to them that they are sharing. It was a gift to me and I'm going to read it again.