The Barn at the End of the World

Author's Bio:

Mother, musician, loving companion, run away college professor, and certified spiritual director, Mary Rose O'Reilley is the author of The Peaceable Classroom and Radical Presence. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and teaches at the University of St. Thomas.

Quotes:

“O'Reilly, a Catholic-born Quaker who practices Zen Buddhism, has created a memoir that is as delightfully unconventional as her approach to religion.”—Dallas Morning News

“I was entranced, amused and educated by Mary Rose O'Reilley's beautifully written spiritual memoir. . . . This often-funny book . . . recounts her attempts to find a spirituality based on a connection to the natural world. . . . After reading this entire book, what puzzles me most is how O'Reilley can be so sensitive to the rest of life, so pragmatic about the animals she says nurture her spirit.”—Mary Ann Grossman, St. Paul Pioneer Press

“O'Reilley's year-long journey through sheep pens and pastures provides a powerful antidote to the cliched out-of-body enlightenment formula so prevalent among today's seekers. This unabashedly awkward self-portrait shows us how finding ourselves can sometimes mean living fully in the world.”—Craig Cox, Utne Reader

“O'Reilley, in spillovers of graceful prose honed on both theoretical and experiential knowledge, is actually writing a memorable spiritual autobiography. . . . The Barn at the End of the World is in three parts, quilted by 99 brief essays ranging from barn ecology to the religion of natural process. Worthy ideas—many expressed with elegance, many comedic—are on every page.”—Colman McCarthy, Washington Post Book World

"This splendid book—with its improbable mix of animal husbandry, intentional community, academic life, rural experience, and Quakerish Zen—offers both wise-cracking fun and wise companionship on the spiritual journey. Read it and laugh. Read it and weep. Read it and grow. This is a flat-out fabulous book!" —Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

“This gritty and enlightening spiritual memoir is spiced with many epiphanies.”—Spirituality and Health

“Her rich, allusive prose draws on Catholicism, Quakerism, Buddhism, monastic tradition, Shakespeare and the Bible. Her short vignettes are luminous with faith matters, yet full of the earthy details of animal husbandry, resulting in a style that's a cross between Kathleen Norris and James Herriot.”—Publishers Weekly

“A substantial contribution to spiritual autobiography.”—Booklist

"As we read of this enormously inspiring woman's personal sojourn, we too, are inspired to transcend our own hectic lives"—Spirit of Change

“An invitation to reflect on what is happening in one's life, this enjoyable book offers lingering pleasure.”—Library Journal

“Beautifully written, so funny and wise.”—Spiritus, The Journal of John's Hopkins University Press