Her entry begins:
I am reading Gravity and Grace published posthumously by Simone Weil which I find both challenging and illuminating. I discovered the French philosopher, social activist and mystic while researching Beneath the Edelweiss and I could not look away from her.About Beneath the Edelweiss, from the publisher:
I can relate to Weil’s discomfort with religious institutions and the pull she felt toward a Christian spirituality. Weil would be horrified by an age that fills every waking second with distraction via back pocket screens. Publishing a book has drawn me deeper into the pool of grace through the joy of creation and the act of self-emptying it requires, but...[read on]
From a poetic new voice in historical fiction comes a story of resistance, community, and survival set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Austrian Alps and the heartbreaking onset of World War II.Visit Elizabeth Noel's website.
Growing up on a farm, high among the flowering slopes of Carinthia, Mitzi Hausler has never fit in―not even with her own family. At thirteen, she’s notaller than a six-year-old, and her peers’ taunts of “Witchy Mitzi” follow her everywhere. Thankfully, she has her loyal pup for comfort. And Oma, the grandmother who raised her.
But Oma, a gifted herbalist, won’t be around forever. She vows to pass on her knowledge before it’s too late, sharing her mysterious alpine remedies with Mitzi. With no marriage prospects, herbs may be Mitzi's only path forward. Indeed, when resources grow tight, her resentful older sister sends Mitzi away to Talend to care for a grieving widower and his sickly young child.
In the town, against all odds, Mitzi’s life gradually blooms into something unexpected and she discovers she belongs. But when political violence and Nazi eugenic policies come to town, she’s forced to make a life-altering choice.
Q&A with Elizabeth Noel.
Writers Read: Elizabeth Noel.
--Marshal Zeringue
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