Sophia's gift was her life. This is a beautiful story of a child who taught her family and others to embrace life and love. Though born with significant disabilities, she inspired others to experience life with a unique and wonderful perspective. Less than one week after celebrating her sixth birthday, Sophia suffered a heartbreaking accident in her wheelchair. Her family was determined to find answers for how a tragedy such as hers was even possible. They were distressed to learn that a calamity such as hers could happen to other children as well. Read their journey in finding answers, and what everyone should know in regards to wheelchair safety. Find the truth that everyone needs to know.

When Princess Sophia swallows a seed that causes her to lose the ability to walk and talk, her family prays for a cure until they realize she is still the same person inside.

Sophia's Table has emerged from the first contemplative writing series I offered. Four women writers joined me for what was to be a six-week series. At the completion of the series, they decided to continue on a monthly basis for six months, then again, and once again. The work became more personal as the women's trust deepened into friendship over the course of the year in which they shared their stories. All of us have found writing to be central to leading healthy, balanced lives; to gaining fresh perspective; and to finding meaning and purpose. Each of us has a distinct voice pitched and toned by her unique life experience. Yet Sophias Table is more than a collection of voices. The production of the book itself is a true collaboration of time and talent, engaging the gifts of each of us to bring the book to publication.

Author of the acclaimed Jung and the Alchemical Imagination, Jeffrey Raff continues his teachings in psychoidal alchemy with an in-depth look at the feminine aspect of the divine. Sophia is, in the esoteric teachings, the embodiment of Wisdom, the matrix from which God arose, and God's heavenly consort and mirror. But, as Raff explains, she suffered a fall from this exalted state, corresponding to the obscuration of the feminine archetype in the patriarchal world. Without Sophia, God is not whole. It is our task to work with imagination to reunite Sophia and God. Raff explains the difference between fantasy, a product of the ego, and imagination, which comes from the soul. More importantly, he brings Sophia to life through a vivid analysis of an 800-year-old text, The Aurora Consurgens, as well as his personal experience with Sophia and active imagination. This process empowers us to become whole and realize our innate drive to unite with the divine.

Dreaming Sophia is a magical look into Italy, language, art, and culture. It is a story about turning dreams into reality and learning to walk the fine line between fact and fantasy. When tragedy strikes, Sophia finds herself alone in the world, without direction and fearful of loving again. With only her vivid imagination to guide her, she begins a journey that will take her from the vineyards in Sonoma, California to a grad school in Philadelphia and, eventually, to Italy: Florence, Lucca, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Val d'Orcia. Through dreamlike encounters, Sophia meets Italian personalities--princes, poets, duchesses, artists, and film stars-- who give her advice to help put her life back together. Following a path that takes her from grief to joy, she discovers the source of her creativity and learns to love again, turning her dreams into reality.

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini celebrates Christmas, past and present, with a wondrous novel inspired by the classic poem “Christmas Bells,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old familiar carols play / And wild and sweet / The words repeat / Of peace on earth, good-will to men! In 1860, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow’s classic Revolutionary War poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was less than a month hence, and the country’s grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed. In present-day Boston, a dedicated teacher in the Watertown public school system is stunned by somber holiday tidings. Sophia’s music program has been sacrificed to budget cuts, and she worries not only about her impending unemployment but also about the consequences to her underprivileged students. At the church where she volunteers as music director, Sophia tries to forget her cares as she leads the children’s choir in rehearsal for a Christmas Eve concert. Inspired to honor a local artist, Sophia has chosen a carol set to a poem by Longfellow, moved by the glorious words he penned one Christmas Day long ago, even as he suffered great loss. Christmas Bells chronicles the events of 1863, when the peace and contentment of Longfellow’s family circle was suddenly, tragically broken, cutting even deeper than the privations of wartime. Through the pain of profound loss and hardship, Longfellow’s patriotism never failed, nor did the power of his language. “Christmas Bells,” the poem he wrote that holiday, lives on, spoken as verse and sung as a hymn. Jennifer Chiaverini’s resonant and heartfelt novel for the season reminds us why we must continue to hear glad tidings, even as we are tested by strife. Reading Christmas Bells evokes the resplendent joy of a chorus of voices raised in reverent song.