Temple Dancer
Description
"Gorgeous and ambitious! Temple Dancer is an unforgettable novel about a woman's search for peace--and another's desire for justice, fleshed out with rich psychological descriptions that evoke the very different cultures they live in." Foreword Reviews
On a crowded train in southern India, a mysterious encounter between two women-one an older elegant Indian, the other a young American artist-leads to the exchange of a dusty red book, and an appeal: You must show the world how we danced with God! Years later, on reading the lost diary, Wendy is transported on an unforgettable journey into the ancient and erotic world of the revered devadasi, a world of dance and devotion, music and mysticism, restraint and release, shame and disgrace. The diary opens a connection across time and space between two parallel lives that include affairs of the spirit and the flesh manifest through sacred practices, through the making of art, the making of love, and most of all through love itself.
Author Amy Weintraub takes readers on a richly atmospheric journey deep into the history and magic of female sacred sexuality and spiritual transcendence. The tragic yet triumphant stories of both women are enriched by vibrant yoga philosophy and the divine enigma that entwines the lives of two unlikely souls.
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About the Author
Reviews
Instantly captivating! If you are interested in divine connection or just a really great read, make Temple Dancer your next favorite book! Nischala Joy Devi, author of The Healing Path of Yoga and The Namaste Effect
"Amy Weintraub's Temple Dancer is a book of wisdom earned through great suffering, deep contemplation, and real compassion." Madison Smartt Bell, author of Behind the Moon and All Souls' Rising: A Novel of Haiti
I could not put this book down. Amy Weintraub is a masterful storyteller! author of The Great Work of Your Life and The Quest for the True Self
Temple Dancer is a fascinating tale that weaves through time and memory ultimately taking the reader on an unforgettable journey of the heart and spirit. There are rich revelations and twists and turns that make it difficult to put down. It's a close cousin of Eat, Pray, Love! Katharine Merlin, author, The Private Lives of the Sun Signs and Character and Fate, the Psychology of the Birth Chart, astrology columnist, Town & Country Magazine.
This book is amazing and once I began reading it, I could not stop. Such a beautiful vignette of two lives with remarkable connections. I particularly like how real it is. Like any great spiritual story, TEMPLE DANCER leaves one with a good dose of reality and still inspires hope and faith. Michael Lee, Founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, author of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy--Bridge from Body to Soul and Turn Stress Into Bliss.
I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Weintraub's Temple Dancer. It beautifully captures the emotions of the Temple Dancer "Saraswati" through the eyes of Wendy, a true devadasi herself in search of her soul. The story of Wendy is equally beautiful. While Saraswati was taught and raised to be a Devadasi, Wendy transformed into one through her experiences learning from her mistakes and taking accountability for her feelings and actions. Suba Parmar, Bharatanatyam dancer; Artistic Director, Shubanjali School of Performing Arts
In Temple Dancer - A novel, the lives of two women, apparently different, yet strangely alike are intertwined in an engrossing story which brings out the common joys, needs and frailties of people everywhere. Wendy from present-day America meets Saraswati, an Indian woman who is committed in childhood to be a dancer in a temple. This tradition (called devadasis) has degenerated through the years, yet Sarawati manages to convey her sense of pride in her art to Wendy in a way which uplifts and strengthens both women, worlds apart in terms of age, experiences and time, yet both with an inner strength which shines through. A compulsive, authentic read! Shirley Telles, MBBS, Ph.D, Director, Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar; Head, Indian Council of Medical Research, Center for Advanced Research in Yoga & Neurophysiology
With its thoughtful exploration of the lives of two seemingly disparate women--one a disgraced temple dancer from 1930's India, one a contemporary social worker in Massachusetts--TEMPLE DANCER welcomes readers with a warm embrace. Elizabeth Evans, author of As Good as Dead and Carter Clay
