Between Will and Surrender by Margaret Duarte
Like the fires that blaze through the Los Padres National Forest, the mysterious voice in Marjorie’s head burns the frameworks that imprison her, transforming them into blackened snags, a perfect habitat for the seeds of awareness buried deep inside her to burst into life.
Description
Silicon Valley resident Marjorie Veil has been conditioned to ignore her own truth, to give way her power, to subjugate in relationships with others, and to settle for the path of least resistance. But she has many surprises in store, for there are synchronistic forces at work in her life that, if she listens, will lead her to her authentic heart and happiness. The seemingly impossible happens in the wild of the Los Padres National Forest where Marjorie goes on retreat to make sense of her life when she thinks she has gone insane. The innocence of the Native American orphan Marjorie befriends, as well as more mystery and adventure than she bargained for, show her how love can heal in what turns out to be a transformative spiritual quest.
BETWEEN WILL AND SURRENDER, Book One of the “Enter the Between” series and first place winner in the 2016 Northern California Publishers and Authors Awards for fiction, is a paranormal adventure of personal growth and transformation, which takes the reader on a visionary journey into the wilds of the Los Padres National Forest, home of the Esselen, one of the smallest Native American populations in California nearly exterminated as a result of the Spanish Missions. Like the fires that blaze through the Los Padres National Forest, the mysterious voice in Marjorie’s head burns the frameworks that imprison her, transforming them into blackened snags, a perfect habitat for the seeds of awareness buried deep inside her to burst into life.
Iris Chinook –
5.0 out of 5 stars This a great paranormal tale of redemption and personal growth.
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2020
It started a little slow, for my tastes, but Margaret Duarte’s novel, Between Will and Surrender, gained momentum and finished brilliantly. Set in the dry, sunny California hills around Carmel Valley, it is a story of not only suspense and drama, but of personal growth and spiritual growth, as well. During the course of the book, several characters undergo trying circumstances that ultimately put them on the path to healing.
And the characters are what makes this book a wonderful read, the human ones and the four-legged. Marjorie Veil, Between’s protagonist, speaks to us in the first person and thus provides us an intimate peek into her personality. Other characters are have strong and distinct personalities as well, all of which weave together seamlessly to unfold a tale of paranormal input and spiritual transformation.
My favorite aspect of the story is the fact that Duarte uses those carefully crafted characters to shine a light on the very modern dilemma of being a member of a traditional faith that doesn’t provide all of the answers that Marjorie Veil needs to interpret her very real experiences. To find those answers, Marjorie seeks the wisdom of other faiths and blends the information gained with her traditional faith. I think this underlines a large part of the spiritual crisis that many people face today and Duarte’s Between Will and Surrender speaks to this in an intelligent and sensitive way.
In the end, the reader is reminded of a very important truth: Love has miraculous healing powers and is the thing that binds all life together. And that love can come from unexpected places.