To the surprise of her family, Winona Pathfinder, an elderly Lakota Sioux medicine woman, announces she intends to die in two months. For counseling, Winona is referred to psychologist Dr. Meggie O'Connor--Caucasian, middle-aged, and divorced. A reluctant client, the feisty Winona decides to turn the tables and teach Dr. O'Connor a thing or two about life, while steadfastly refusing to renounce her plans to die. As fall turns to winter on the scenic Leelanau Peninsula of Michigan, Winona casts her web around the doctor. Ever-dubious, Meggie O'Connor sees her professional methods slowly crumble before the earthy humor and soaring spirit of her new teacher. Who is healing whom? Can the doctor convince Winona to step back from the gates to the spirit world? As Meggie's eyes open, she also rediscovers the pull of romance, involving her with two intriguing Native American men. Strange visions begin to appear, and Meggie faces a battle of wills with her stubborn patient armed with a prayer pipe, a strong heart, and the conviction that she is about to "cross over." Graceful and powerful, the story is deeply rooted in traditional Lakota teachings. Winona's Web will delight you and touch your heart with its message of hope and prayer, love and loss, and learning to listen to the web of the world.

Winona's Web: A Novel of Discovery

Cogan, Priscilla

Literature & Fiction

Broadway Books

The Small Press Book Award-winning author of Winona's Web returns with a magical tale of love and enchantment, in which timeless Lakota wisdom meets a very contemporary midlife romance. "Love is very tricky," warns Winona Pathfinder, the elderly medicine woman who has introduced psychologist Meggie O'Connor to the spiritual ways of Lakota prayer and healing. Soon, however, Meggie's teacher and friend will cross over to the Other Side, leaving Meggie, just forty and newly divorced, to make her way on her own. But before she goes, Winona nudges her young cousin Hawk to walk alongside Meggie on a journey of the heart and soul. Wary yet optimistic, these two seek out the Pipe Road--the path that will lead them to harmony with the world and with each other. Love may indeed be tricky, but with faith and hope, it is a road they will attempt to navigate. Graceful and powerful, its story deeply rooted in traditional Lakota teachings, Compass of the Heart is a moving song of wonder and magic, an incandescent tale of love in all its dimensions.

Compass of the Heart: A Novel Of Discovery

United States

Crown

"Love is very tricky," warns Winona Pathfinder, the elderly Sioux medicine woman who has introduced psychologist Meggie O'Connor to the spiritual ways of Lakota prayer and healing. Soon, however, Meggie's teacher and friend will cross over to the Other Side, leaving Meggie, just forty and newly divorced, to make her way on her own. But before she goes, Winona nudges her younger cousin Hawk to walk alongside Maggie on a journey of the heart and soul. It is this story that is at the center of Compass of the Heart. Priscilla Cogan, bestselling author of Winona's Web, winner of the Small Press Book Award, is the weaver of this lyrical, incandescent tale of love in all the directions. 
 With the enigmatic words "It's a teaching pipe. Maybe, just maybe, she'll have the luck I did and meet a man worthy of her spirit," Winona asks Hawk to give Meggie her lightning pipe. This gift marks the beginning of Hawk and Meggie's relationship. As they turn toward the seven directions of prayer, the Pipe calls forth the Spirits, and leads both Hawk and Meggie deeper into a world of sacred mystery. For the first time in years, levelheaded Meggie has to reckon with romance and the risk of passion. Hawk, a medicine teacher, like his cousin, is torn between his love for the white woman and his loyalty to the red road. Wary yet optimistic, these two seek out the Pipe Road -- the path that will lead them to harmony with the world and with each other. 
 All the while, Winona watches over them and their circle of friends and family. Children scar and heal, husbands betray pained wives, aged sisters ease into the late afternoon of their lives, and animals teach the human beings the true meaning of sacrifice. 
 Love may be very tricky, they all eventually discover, but it's a road that can be navigated with faith and hope. "Maybe we don't have to circle round and round in life," muses Meggie, "chasing the ancient tales. I'd rather warm myself in the creation of a new story." Filled with Cogan's sensuous, intimate renderings of Native American ceremony and custom, as well as her compassion for her characters (whether man or man's best friend), Compass of the Heart is that magical new story, a novel of great insight and artistry.

Compass of the Heart: A Novel of Discovery

Simon&Schuster

Timeless Lakota wisdom and a midlife romance are at the center of this novel of love and empowerment. Dr. Meggie O'Connor, a New York psychologist, seeks a simpler life and moves to a peninsula off Lake Michigan. The quiet of her new life is soon disturbed, however, by the arrival of a most unusual patient--Winona Pathfinder, an elderly Sioux medicine woman.

Winona's Web: A Novel of Discovery (Thorndike Press Large Print Senior Lifestyles Series)

Genre Fiction

Thorndike Pr

To the surprise of her family, Winona Pathfinder, an elderly Lakota Sioux medicine woman, announces she intends to die in two months. For counseling, Winona is referred to psychologist Dr. Meggie O'Connor - Caucasian, middle-aged, and divorced. A reluctant client, the feisty Winona decides to turn the tables and teach Dr. O'Connor a thing or two about life, while steadfastly refusing to renounce her plan to die.

Winona's Web

Face to Face Books

The Unraveling Thread

Badalian, Alvart

Two Canoes Press

Clinging To The Moon

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