by Bruce Wagner
First published 2013
A Buddhist living in Big Sur faces the unthinkable when his child takes their own life. In the devastating aftermath, he searches for meaning and somehow finds enlightenment through his grief. Years later and across the country, an aging woman named Queenie decides to return to India. She left decades ago as a young seeker, and now she must finish what she started in her youth. Both strangers find Bruce Wagner and tell him their stories in vivid detail. The Buddhist speaks of how tragedy shattered and then transformed him. Queenie describes her journey back to the spiritual path she abandoned long ago. Wagner listens to these two separate confessions, understanding that both reveal something essential about human suffering and resilience. Their stories show how people break apart and somehow find the strength to continue.
Genres: literary-fiction, grief, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption
Setting: Big Sur, India
Period: Contemporary
304 pages · Hardcover · Blue Rider Press
Content warnings: suicide