The Dance of the Dissident Daughter

Acclaimed author Sue Monk Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees) writes about her own unexpected journey into feminine spirituality, where she seeks to reclaim the wholeness lost to women within patriarchal faith traditions. Kidd enjoyed a thriving career as a Christian writer until she experienced an awakening and began to question her role as a woman in her culture, her family, and her church. In this heartfelt memoir, the author of When the Heart Waits tells her very personal story of the fear, anger, healing, and freedom she experienced on the path toward the wholeness that many women have lost in the church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore, to monastery retreats and to rituals in the caves of Crete, Kidd reveals a new level of feminine spiritual consciousness for all women – one that retains a meaningful connection with the “deep song of Christianity,” embraces the sacredness of ordinary women’s experience, and has the power to transform in the most positive ways every fundamental relationship in a woman’s life. Sue Monk Kidd is the award-winning author of Dance of the Dissident Daughter and God’s Joyful Surprise, as well as the best-selling novels The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair. She has written for numerous publications, including Reader’s Digest and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and had a regular assignment with Guideposts. She lives outside of Charleston, South Carolina. “Kidd’s successful pilgrimage from her Southern Baptist roots and away from the patriarchal and fundamentalist Christian religious systems surrounding her is an account of anger turned to courage, creativity and love.” – Publishers Weekly