Compass of the Heart: A Novel of Discovery

Many thanks to Priscilla Cogan for writing this beautiful book continuing to weave the story of Winona, Meggie O'Connor and Hawk. Not only is this a wonderful love story, but a story that allows the reader to learn about beautiful Lakota traditions. I fell in love with this book and didn't want it to end. It was a story of relationships at many different levels. The growing love between Meggie and Hawk, the Lakota wisdom Winona shared with her Grandson Adam, and the struggling relationship between Wynona and her daughter Lucy, who in many ways rejected her Lakota heritage. It was simply beautiful, and I couldn't put it down. If reviews had a 10-star rating, that would be my pick for Compass of the Heart.

Priscilla Cogan successfully continues the journey of spirtual and self development of Meggie O'Connor and Hawk. She encircles you into the continueing web laid down by Winona in her 1st Novel Winona's Web. The author not only brings to the forefront the traidtions of the Lakota but does it in a sacred and honorable way. As in the cycles of life, the novel helps to crack open ones narrowed vision and explore a whole new world. We owe a great deal of thanks to Priscilla Cogan for sharing with us in such detail the traditions of the Lakota and for the honor she has brought to the people. Read it, enjoy it, learn from it, and grow. Thank you Priscilla.

I picked this book up and could not put it down. I found it to be a compelling look into my soul in light of events of my own personal life. I was able to identify with the frozen heartfelt thought to my own fleeting thoughts. It was nice to see my thoughts and feelings are shared by others. It is obvious that Ms. Cogan is an excellent psychologist and emits her own personal thought/feelings/compassion/trust and honesty in the words she puts own paper as her frozen thought. The basis of what life is all about is contained in this little book; You just have to be willing to open your eyes, heart and soul to recognize the wisdom and value of life and each other - anything less is just a "carcass"/artificat that becomes abstract in the reality of life, love, existence and spirituality.

When "Compass of the Heart" was published (the second book in the trilogy), I could hardly wait to revisit the unforgettable characters introduced in Priscilla Cogan's first novel, "Winona's Web." My expectations were surpassed with another profoundly textured, powerful novel imparting the quiet wisdom of life and Native American spirituality."Compass" is grippingly fresh, yet it glows with the purity of language, vivid imagery, sensitivity, humor, compassion, intellectual stamina, and insight to relationships that distinguished Priscilla Cogan as a gifted writer and captivating storyteller in her first novel."Compass of the Heart" is an intense story -- absorbing , kinetic, and truthful. It exposes and explores the shells of human relationships, spirituality, and the vicarious ties that shape and tug on them.You don't want the book to end and, when it does, it pulls you back again and again to reflect on the journey of life, its meanings, its teachings. It's the type of novel one can read several times and enjoy more with each revisit. I highly recommend it for men and women from 18 to 118 years old ... it's a treasure to share with family and friends. Dianne Foster, Charlevoix, Michigan

Dr. Meggie O'Connor is a licensed practicing psychologist in a small Michigan town. She is firmly fixated in the belief that science will ultimately answer all the questions of the mind. However, her world belief system is shaken when she meets Winona, a South Dakota Lakota Sioux teaching the old customs to members of the Ojibuaway and Ottawa tribe, living on the Pesawbestown Reservation. Winona provides spiritual instruction to Meggie, who surprisingly grasps her teachings. Upon Winona's death, Meggie is gifted with her mentor's sacred pipe; an instrument that when used correctly can take the owner down the true spiritual path. Meggie also becomes involved with Winona's former student, Hawk, who is now the teacher of the old ways. The last thing Hawk wants in life is to fall in love with an Anglo, a person who could never comprehend the road he has chosen to travel. When Rising Spirit, his ex-wife, comes to see him, Hawk feels he ought to give her, the perso! nwho shares his cultural heritage a second chance. However, Hawk will never fully understand Winona's true meanings of the spirit world until he stops stereotyping individuals residing on the mortal plane. Priscilla Cogan paints an unbelievably realistic canvas of a segment of the Native American culture that encompasses more than just the spiritual world. Ms. Cogan's novel describes the mindset and the problems confronting theold way teachers who must deal with tradition and an encroaching outside world that threatens mass annihilation through assimilation. The underlying theme of Compass of the Heart is simple: It is the soul and not the ethnic background that determines whether one can accept traditional ways that seem antiquated in the information age. Meggie and Hawk are a glorious couple, who struggle to find a path that both can lovingly walk together.Harriet Klausner