Page count: 407 pages
Deborah Rudell’s world unravels when the leaders of her spiritual commune are exposed, arrested, and imprisoned for bioterrorism and attempted murder. Crushed and adrift, she moves her family off the commune to create a sense of normalcy. But when her husband seeks an opportunity to dismantle and rebuild a derelict fifty-foot schooner, Deborah uproots their children once again and joins him in Kauai. For the next five years, she dedicates her life to restoring a boat.
Pouring herself into the work at hand can only distract her so much as disillusionment about the cult’s lies and manipulation slowly rises to the surface. While she grapples with emotional turmoil and contemplates a new life path, Deborah sets out to accomplish something she never thought possible: sailing across the Pacific to the Olympic Peninsula. Will the dangers that come with navigating the ocean be too much to bear, or will she find resolution and fortitude in the turbulent adventure?
Grit & Grace: The Transformation of a Ship & a Soul is one woman’s account of conquering overwhelming challenges with tenacity and ingenuity and ultimately discovering her inner strength.
A college professor in San Diego, California, Deborah Rudell participates in her city’s vibrant writing community. She is a graduate of Hay House Writer’s Workshop and the Certificate in Memoir Writing program at San Diego Writers, Ink. Her work has been published in the International Memoir Writers Association’s anthology, Shaking the Tree: I Didn't See That One Coming.
Deborah lives with her black cat in a tiny house built in 1906 by a retired sea captain, who carved a sailing ship into the front door. This is her first book.
Compelling memoir of one woman’s journey to discover her inner spirituality, strength, and peace.
Grit & Grace: The Transformation of a Ship and a Soul by Deborah Rudell is a compelling and highly readable memoir about her journey to uncover her true self, reveal the depths of her inner strength, and find a fulfilling spiritual inner life. After a difficult childhood and a short marriage, Deborah, now a single mother, eventually falls in love with the dentist in whose office she works as a dental assistant. While Tosh shares her need to achieve understanding and fulfill the spiritual side of her existence, he is a restless soul, easily bored without constant challenge, and Deborah leaves her home in British Columbia to accompany him to a controversial spiritual commune in Oregon. When the community is ultimately disrupted, the leaders arrested and deported, Tosh decides to move to the island of Kauai and rebuild a derelict 50-foot schooner, once again, with Deborah and their children in tow.
Deborah’s life story is fascinating and well-told, with raw honesty, heartache, and a lot of unexpected suspense; so much could have gone very, very wrong at so many points. She displays immense courage, tenacity, loyalty, and plain old guts as the man she loves draws her across a continent and then out to the Hawaiian Islands, with far less safety net in place than many would be willing to accept. After five years of working to get the Elixir seaworthy, her journey, of course, comes to a climax with the suspenseful ocean crossing from Kauai to the Olympic peninsula on the U.S. mainland. The story left me reeling from the tension!
I recommend GRIT & GRACE to readers of memoirs and
biographies.
Thank you for the review.
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