Whispers from the Valley of the Yak: A Memoir of Coming Full Circle
Jacquelyn Lenox Tuxill
(Author)
Description
Jackie has known tumultuous times: she escaped war-torn China as a toddler with her medical missionary parents, grew up with emotional abuse, and came of age in the 1960s. But after returning to China at thirty-eight with her aging parents and being stunned by a revelation about their past, she begins an unexpected quest-for forgiveness, self-fulfillment, and the authentic life she craves.Product Details
Price
$17.95
$16.69
Publisher
She Writes Press
Publish Date
September 26, 2023
Pages
304
Dimensions
5.5 X 8.4 X 0.9 inches | 0.93 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781647425494
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Even as a child, Jacquelyn Tuxill's world view was expansive. Born in Chengdu, China, of medical missionary parents, as a toddler she escaped the final months of WWII with her family and celebrated her third birthday in India before obtaining passage to the US and settling in a rural West Virginia town in 1948. After graduating cum laude from Muskingum College with a BS in biology, she worked in a medical research lab while her husband attended medical school; they later moved to Alaska, where Jackie discovered a love of outdoor adventure and a passion for nature that led to a thirty-five-year career in environmental work. "Ashes and Rivers," a chapter adapted from Whispers From the Valley of the Yak, appeared in the 2019 anthology True Stories: The Narrative Project, Vol I. For the past three decades, Jackie has made her home in Lincoln, Vermont.
Reviews
"This gripping memoir from Jacquelyn Tuxill combines a story of familial
struggles and reconciliation with the grandeur of revelation amid high
mountains. Her climactic journeys to her birthplace of Chengdu and the
majestic peak Minya Konka in southwestern China, first with her parents
and then with her grown children, rewarded her with a vantage point from
which to understand and affirm her personal history. They also offer
readers a dramatic counterpoint to their customary worlds, which is the
true gift of fine travel writing."
--John Elder, author of Reading the Mountains of Home and English and environmental studies teacher at Middlebury College "In Whispers from the Valley of the Yak,
Jacquelyn Tuxill breaks away from a confining childhood with parents
committed to their medical work--first as missionaries in China, where
the author was born, and later in West Virginia. . . . Her vivid
descriptions of panoramas in Alaska and China mirror the wild beauty she
ultimately finds within herself. This memoir will take readers on a
journey they won't want to end."
--Louella Bryant, author of Sheltering Angel: A Novel Based on a True Story "Whispers from the Valley of the Yak
is a story about landscapes. From her birthplace in China to her
connection with Denali, North America's tallest peak, Tuxill navigates
her early years as a mom in the shadow of her rocky relationship with
her own mother. She finds her way beyond the lost relationship with her
spouse, then passes through the grief of losing her beloved father and
later, her mother. Ultimately, Tuxill explores how she came to terms
with the unexpected landscape of her own heart. A wonderfully rendered
story."
--Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan, author of A Tender Distance and Our Perfect Wild
struggles and reconciliation with the grandeur of revelation amid high
mountains. Her climactic journeys to her birthplace of Chengdu and the
majestic peak Minya Konka in southwestern China, first with her parents
and then with her grown children, rewarded her with a vantage point from
which to understand and affirm her personal history. They also offer
readers a dramatic counterpoint to their customary worlds, which is the
true gift of fine travel writing."
--John Elder, author of Reading the Mountains of Home and English and environmental studies teacher at Middlebury College "In Whispers from the Valley of the Yak,
Jacquelyn Tuxill breaks away from a confining childhood with parents
committed to their medical work--first as missionaries in China, where
the author was born, and later in West Virginia. . . . Her vivid
descriptions of panoramas in Alaska and China mirror the wild beauty she
ultimately finds within herself. This memoir will take readers on a
journey they won't want to end."
--Louella Bryant, author of Sheltering Angel: A Novel Based on a True Story "Whispers from the Valley of the Yak
is a story about landscapes. From her birthplace in China to her
connection with Denali, North America's tallest peak, Tuxill navigates
her early years as a mom in the shadow of her rocky relationship with
her own mother. She finds her way beyond the lost relationship with her
spouse, then passes through the grief of losing her beloved father and
later, her mother. Ultimately, Tuxill explores how she came to terms
with the unexpected landscape of her own heart. A wonderfully rendered
story."
--Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan, author of A Tender Distance and Our Perfect Wild
