Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

finding home

Like coming home: A review of Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy

This is quite possibly the most beautiful book I’ve ever read. I hope you know that I don’t say that lightly.

Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy is a memoir about her family’s first year of living in a farmhouse in roots&skyPennsylvania. It’s organized by seasons and presents a picture of an imperfect acceptance of what it means to be home. (I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my review.) Christie’s journey home, both to a place and a presence, is so relatable I felt she could have been telling my story. Nearly every page contained words worth underlining. It was a privilege to read such a vulnerable story of the first year of life in a new home. I could sense the colors, sounds, tastes and feel of the seasons as each month passed.

Here’s a sample:

Wandering taught me to desire rootedness. In the wilderness, I began to long for a place where my heart and body could settle, free of striving, free of restlessness. A place where my feet could touch ground. A place where I could grow. Like a tree. … But whether we are homebodies or world travelers, we all long for the moment of arrival. We all dream of the rest and peace we imagine waits for us at the end of a long journey. (p. 19)

I can’t say enough good things about this book. Christie is a new favorite writer. She has a way of capturing deep emotions and helping the reader feel right along with them. But it’s a process of acknowledging things for the way they are and trusting that they can be better.

If you’ve ever longed for home, no matter where you live, this is a book you MUST read.

You can read more of her words on her blog, A Spacious Place.

A free spirit and finding what satisfies: Review of Wild in the Hollow by Amber C. Haines

I only know of Amber Haines through other writers. She and her husband, Seth, both have redemptive stories and gifted writing voices, and reading her book Wild in the Hollow was a literary treat. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book through Icon Media Group in exchange for my review.)

wild in the hollowIn the book, Amber writes of her longings and desires, her attempts to be the person that would make people happy, the person that would make her happy. Her journey is littered with broken pieces and yet her story is one of hope and healing, of finding satisfaction in the only place that’s real and true. She writes in the introduction:

The way I remember home is the same way the prodigal son remembered his when he found himself eating scraps. It’s the place we know we can go, where we’ll be received and fed. It’s where we know we have a name. … At the basest level, we suspect that home is the place where we’ll find our fit, where we’ll finally be free. (p. 12-13)

Wild in the Hollow is the story of her journey home, not to a place but a people and a Person.

Her writing is like poetry and her stories come alive to the imagination. She inspires and convicts and challenges in the gentlest way. Reading Wild in the Hollow is like a hike through the mountains, full of uphills and downhills, a lot of hard work but the journey is worth it for the beautiful views.

If you want to read more of Amber’s writing, visit her blog.