Whispers From The Valley Of The Yak
Whispers From The Valley Of The Yak
Whispers From The Valley of The Yak : A Memoir of Coming Full Circle
(She Writes Press 9/26/23) written by Jackquelyn Lenox Tuxill.
It is an intergenerational memoir of an international family’s journey through China and America toward forgiveness and authenticity.
Themes: memoir / travel / body, mind, spirit;
Jackie, born of medical missionaries in China during World War II, rejected her connection to her birth country growing up because it made her different.
When Jackie returns to her Chinese birthplace with her aging American parents in 1980, questions arise about love and family that set her on a quest to understand her troubled childhood. After always having known her mother as distant and emotionally abusive, she is stunned to see a loving side to her for the first time—and pleasantly surprised by the affinity she feels for her birth country.
These revelations launch Jackie on a quest to understand her difficult childhood and who she is beyond “wife,” “mother,” and “daughter.” Her journey takes her first to the mountainous landscapes of Alaska.
In “Whispers from the Valley of the Yak,” there is a sense of awe and wonder, of reverence for the natural world and the untamed beauty that exists within it. It is a place where the veil between the seen and the unseen is thin, where the whispers of the wind carry the wisdom of generations past, and where the spirit of the yak roams free, a silent guardian of the valley.
Life in the valley moves at a slower pace, in rhythm with the seasons and the cycles of nature. Each day begins with the soft glow of dawn illuminating the mountain peaks, and ends with the gentle embrace of dusk enveloping the land in shadows.
Amidst the solitude of the valley, there is a profound sense of connection – to the land, to the animals, and to one another. The people who call this valley home are bound by a shared reverence for the earth and a deep respect for the creatures that inhabit it.
In Jackie finds a passion for nature and begins a thirty-five-year environmental career. As she builds her life there and later in New England, she makes multiple trips to her birth country—with her parents, alone, and with her adult children. Each of these trips provides a benchmark for the growth and transformation she undergoes as she learns to create the authentic life she craves.
Deeply reflective and sensitively rendered, Whispers from the Valley of the Yak touches on the healing power of nature and universal themes of unconditional love and forgiveness—and, most importantly, being true to oneself.
I enjoyed reading this book. I recommend it and rate it a *****.