When a severe allergic illness dictates that she grow all her own food, Mary Swander finds herself living in a former one-room schoolhouse in the midst of the largest Amish community west of the Mississippi. In this simple yet profound memoir, she shares her experiences as she explores what it means to be a lone woman homesteader at the end of the 20th century, discovering the quiet spirituality born of a life on the land.

Out of This World: A Journey of Healing

Biographies & Memoirs

Swander, Mary

Arts & Literature

Penguin??Books

“This evocative memoir flashes back to Swander’s Catholic childhood, the death of her mother, and other events that made her suspicious of opening herself to spirituality. Hers is a tale of discovery.”—Chicago Tribune While driving home one cold winter night, Mary Swander was struck by another car. The accident left her almost completely paralyzed and in chronic pain, with no medical cure or relief in sight. A lapsed Catholic, without any family to speak of, and now severely disabled, she was suddenly faced with how very alone she was in the world. On the verge of losing all hope, she traveled to New Mexico in search of the alternative medicine that the region is known for. It was a decision that would change her forever. In this exquisite memoir, critically acclaimed writer and poet Mary Swander recounts her journey toward emotional, physical, and spiritual recovery amid the stark desert beauty of the American southwest. There she meets two unusual healers: Father Sergei, a Russian Orthodox monk who helps restore her faith; and Lu, a curandera, whose herbal remedies help restore her body. As she chronicles her own transcendent experiences, Swander embarks upon an investigation into the history of healing and mystics such as Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, and Hildegard of Bingen. Beautifully written and conveyed with sensitivity and humor, The Desert Pilgrim is a meditation on what it takes to restore our faith in the modern world—and how to believe in miracles again.

The Desert Pilgrim: En Route to Mysticism and Miracles

History

World

Poems deal with mortality, grief, families, country life, friendship, the past, nature, and memories

DRIVING THE BODY BACK (Knopf Poetry)

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

KNOPF

Poems deal with mortality, grief, families, country life, friendship, the past, nature, and memories

Driving the Body Back

A collection of lyrical poems and dramatic monologues has been  honored by the Whiting Foundation and is set in the author's native  Iowa, where they pay tribute to the area's earth and its animals.  Reprint.

Heaven-And-Earth House

Random House Value Publishing

Recounts the author's rediscovery of faith and purpose after a disabling accident, describing her painful recovery period, her tenure at the University of New Mexico, and her encounters with numerous people of faith. 17,500 first printing.

Viking Adult

The author, a poet and teacher, reflects on her experiences living in a community of Amish farmers in Iowa in 1993, explores the lore of the Great Plains settlers who came before them, and celebrates life on the land.

Out of This World: A Woman's Life Among the Amish

Regional U.S.

Heaven-and-Earth House is a book of lyrical poems and dramatic monologues that attempts to explore the balance between the physical and the spiritual, the mind and the body. The book is set and grounded in Mary Swander's own Midwestern landscape. It follows her quest to find her sense of place within the surrounding Amish countryside of her native Iowa, and to find her sense of self within and without her physical body. Through gardening, tending goats and sheep, through her work with massage, over and over again she is put in touch with the five basic elements. Earth, water, fire, metal and air come to encompass not only a schema of medicine but a life process that seeks finally to find the hope of "worldly" transcendence.Always close to the earth and its animals, always beautifully constructed, always masterly in the ways of storytelling, Mary Swander's poems are experiences both moving and profoundly delightful.

Heaven-and-earth House

A collection of lyrical poems and dramatic monologues has been honored by the Whiting Foundation and is set in the author's native Iowa, where they pay tribute to the area's earth and its animals. Reprint.

Heaven-and-Earth House: Poems

"Coffee table" book published in 1996 in conjunction with Iowa's sesquicentennial celebration of statehood. Profusely illustrated- primarily with contemporary color photograghy and embellished by selected historic photographs. The text, consisting of essays by five prominant Iowa writers, captures the spirit and direction of the people of Iowa.

Iowa: A Celebration of Land, People & Purpose

Arts & Photography

Mutel, Cornelia Fleischer

Canine, Craig

Martin, Michael E.

Sidey, Hugh

Photography & Video

Meredith Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Swander, Mary. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Swander, Mary

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Swander, Mary. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Out of This World: A Journey of Healing

The Desert Pilgrim: En Route to Mysticism and Miracles

DRIVING THE BODY BACK (Knopf Poetry)

Driving the Body Back

Heaven-And-Earth House

The Desert Pilgrim: En Route to Mysticism and Miracles

Out of This World: A Woman's Life Among the Amish

Heaven-and-earth House

Heaven-and-Earth House: Poems

Iowa: A Celebration of Land, People & Purpose