Author Stephen Drew lives in the northwestern Connecticut town of Morris, where he practices daily walking, mostly on the roads and paths around Bantam Lake. For him, hiking there and elsewhere serves as a centerpiece of contemplative living. His day-by-day custom has led to a pensive memoir and premier book, Into the Thin: A Pilgrimage Walk Across Northern Spain. On Wednesday, November 18th, 7:00pm to 8:30pm, Bethel's Byrd's Books will welcome him to an online Zoom gathering to discuss his book, walking, and a journey both of body and spirit - the experience of walking a thousand year old road, the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James.
"During the spring of 2016," Stehpen Drew notes, "sixty years of living was circumscribed on a five hundred mile pilgrimage across Spain. Then came the words. Now, four years later, they belong to you at last. If this goes well, you might read my story and come to know your own more deeply." To share in and experience the author's inspiring story, go to https://conta.cc/3jEOarY to register for this free and timely event.
Into the Thin recounts a dark year in which a father figure passes, a friend and mentor suffers a terminal illness, one child enters psychosis, another child takes his life, and a 14 year marriage ends - and a resilient new life begins. An ancient pilgrimage called from across an ocean: A transcendent journey of the body, heart, mind, and spirit from the French Pyrenees Mountains, crossing northern Spain for 500 miles to the city of Santiago de Compostela, and beyond to the coastal town of Finisterre. Would the journey hold any answers? Were there any answers to be had? But questions are always temporal. It seems pilgrimage follows the designs of the eternal. In parts a travelogue, a love letter to Spain, and a chronicle of change under the influence of grace, Into the Thin is a story told in the language of the soul. Suffused with resilience, it is a dialogue between humanity and its spirit. It calls.
Byrd’s Books is a general bookstore that carries only new titles, with a special focus on Connecticut authors, poets, publishers and illustrators. As a proud member of the American Booksellers Association and its division, Indiebound, Byrd’s Books participates in the larger community of bookselling nationwide, especially encouraging and promoting a vibrant network of independent bookstores. Byrd's Books features additional sections that include bestsellers, children's books, poetry, mystery, science and nature, and classics, as well as greeting cards, gifts, puzzles, and a large selection of discounted titles.