Roots and Sky

"This is not a book. This is a sanctuary. Step inside and breathe again."--Jennifer Dukes Lee, author of Love Idol When Christie Purifoy arrived at Maplehurst that September, she was longing for a fixed point in her busily spinning world. The sprawling Victorian farmhouse sitting atop a Pennsylvania hill held within its walls endless possibilities. It was a place where she could finally grasp and hold the thing we all long for--home. In lyrical, contemplative prose, Christie slowly unveils the trials and triumphs of that first year at Maplehurst--from summer's intense heat and autumn's glorious canopy to winter's quiet grief and spring's unexpected mercies. Through stories of planting and preserving, of opening the gates wide to neighbors, and of learning to speak the language of a place, Christie invites you into the heartache and joy of small beginnings and the wonder of a God who would make his home with us. "When it comes to finding God in ordinary places, no one does it better than Christie Purifoy. Somehow her personal journey to find home turned into a spiritually informative pilgrimage for my own soul."-- Emily P. Freeman , author of Simply Tuesday "Christie reminds us that hope, like dreams, is made of stronger stuff. She invites us into a year of her life lived in real time in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse, chock-full of hope and decay, promise and weeds, work and wonder."-- Lisa-Jo Baker , author of Surprised by Motherhood and community manager for (in)courage "An astonishing, rhythmic work of unmatched artistry. There is no doubt: this book is a must-read for the lover of the quiet, contemplative, and beautiful."-- Seth Haines , author of Coming Clean Christie Purifoy has taught literature and composition to undergraduates at the University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of North Florida. In 2012, Christie traded the university classroom for a large vegetable garden and a henhouse in southeastern Pennsylvania. She writes about the beauty, mystery, and wonder that lies within the ordinary at her blog, There Is a River (www.christiepurifoy.com).