It is not down in any map, true places never are. -Herman Melville
That quote is from Moby Dick and it was also the inspiration for my novel, The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry.
How do we navigate our lives amid usual life changes: people are born, people die, families break apart, new families are formed. Change happens (to borrow a descriptive quote from Hemingway) gradually then suddenly. The answer, I think, lies in finding our own true places: safe havens that are home to us and make us feel like our better selves. Sometimes these places are real. Sometimes they exist only in memory and imagination. Almost always, they are connected to the people we love.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am giving 2 copies of his book The Map of True Places. To enter the contest and win your copy:
1) Like the Facebook Page and leave a comment.
Contest Rules: Contest Ends April 19th at 9 PM EST. Winners will be announced on the Facebook page on April 20th. All the people will be put in a list and using Random.org two users will be selected. Two users will be announced on the Facebook page and will be contacted for details to mail them the book.
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The truest place in my life is a real one, a Victorian summer-house on a lake in New Hampshire. It was built by my great grandfather more than a century ago and has been handed down through the generations. The camp hasn't changed much in those hundred years, which makes it easier to conjure images of the people who have touched my life there, some who are still with me, many who have long since gone.
In my true place, I can bring all of the generations back to life at once. My reverie supposes that time is non-linear, and that all the characters exist in their happiest moments. People who never knew each other gather together for a weekend celebration. A favorite uncle who read stories to me when I was little reads the same stories now to my brother's grandchildren. My first dog, Skybo, rolls on the front lawn with my sixteen year old golden retriever whose hip dysplasia has miraculously healed. Pine needles hang from their ears, and moss sticks to their muzzles. My grandmother sits on the front porch shelling peas with the great granddaughter she never knew.
Whether real of imagined, true places are more important than ever in these times of great and sometimes devastating change. I wish for true places, real, imagined, or simply remembered for all those who are suffering today. I've told you about the place I hold dear. What are some of your true places?
Source: The Lipstick Chronicles Author: Brunonia Barry
