Description:
What happens when buried grief rises two decades late, upending the life you've built on its coffin? When you add loss upon loss by constantly moving, serving a church organization--and possible cult--that expects unwavering sacrifice? How do you restore a devastated marriage, a crushed faith, and an endlessly broken heart?
Two years after Marilyn loses her fiancé to cancer, she becomes a Christian and marries Henry, joining him in a worldwide ministry that leaves little time for family or personal reflection. When her old grief resurfaces, she's shocked by the tsunami that rips through their lives. Intensive counselling fails to bring healing, and when Henry writes a public letter that decimates their churches and spins them out of fellowship--and lifelong employment--she faces an emotional and spiritual reckoning that challenges her to the core. With unflinching honesty, Marilyn shares the missteps and keys to recovering her heart, her faith, and her self-esteem.
Multilayered and compelling, Marilyn's story will resonate with anyone who's stuck in grief, navigating a mid-life career crisis, or struggling with a spiritual life that's lost its luster or lost its way.
Brief description:
Marilyn Kriete's debut memoir, Paradise Road, chronicles the death of her first love and her conversion to Christianity and marriage that this memoir is rooted in. Paradise Road was recognized as the winner in the Young Adult Nonfiction Category and as a finalist in both New Adult Nonfiction and Book Cover Design (Nonfiction) in the 15th Annual Indie Excellence Awards. The 2022 Book Excellence Awards named it Best Adventure Nonfiction. The author/essayist lived in sixteen cities spanning four continents before returning to her native Canada. She resides in Kelowna, British Columbia, with her husband, Henry, and three cats.
Review Quotes:
"This profoundly moving memoir leads with vulnerability, communicates with grace, and delivers the kind of hard-earned wisdom that only comes with time. An intensely personal story of recovery, its lessons apply to any soul with unhealed wounds."
-- "Daryl Potter, author of Even the Monsters and Bitter for Sweet"