Desert Sojourn: A Woman's Forty Days and Nights Alone

Debi did what few people are willing to do. She told it like it was. She didn't try to make herself appear any other than real, with all that entails. Of course she made mistakes, darlings, that is how we learn. That was what she went into the desert for, to learn, not to get it perfect. And what did she learn? That she was strong, resilient, that despite her sometimes overwhelming fear, she could face it and overcome it. She learned that it was okay to be Debi whatever that might mean. That she didn't have to be any one of the images she'd been trying to fulfill, she could seek her own truth in the silence of her own being. Wonderful !

DESERT SOJOURN is one of the most moving and beautiful books I have ever read and reminds me of GIFTS FROM THE SEA. The author takes her readers deep into the Great Salt Lake Desert and into her soul. Her inner journey ranges from the amusing to the insightful to the painful, but it's always well written and compelling. I wish I had her courage. Reading the book has certainly given me more strength.

My wife and I spent a few days with Debi's parents last year. They told us her story, and so we knew this book was coming. We also spent 10 years teaching with them in Taiwan, and we thought we knew them well. However, we were not prepared for the fascinating revelations about her family life as she was growing up. She skillfully interweaves family events and personal accounts into this excellent book. I was a bit dubious at first; after all, who would want or need to do something like this? Right away I put her in the same category as those who climb mountains, swim channels, or hike Antarctica. But as I progressed into the book, I realized that this was a very special woman, one who had an important story to tell, and one who could move me to tears as she told it. I read the book because I knew her parents, but I was swept up by it because of her power as a writer. Bravo, Debi, bravo, George and Lois for raising such a daughter.

A reader would make a serious mistake to conclude that Debi Holmes-Binney's engaging account of her desert sojourn is reading solely reserved for women. It is a book for both genders. This book will touch the soul of anyone who has lived long enough to have realized that life is far more complicated than we were promised, that material rewards become hollow in time, that relationships are fragile, and that permanence in anything is elusive. If approached with an open mind, Desert Sojourn is an immensely fulfilling work that invokes the best of journal-writing traditions. Carefully and beautifully written, Holmes-Binney's text takes the reader into the desert and deep into her thoughts. When she is cold, we are cold; when she is scared, we are too; and, when she is triumphant, we are swept aloft. I found myself deeply moved by this slim volume. Read it for no other reason than it will force you to slow down. It will take you to a place of solitude. It will cause you to think carefully about your life. In the end, what more can one ask from a book?

Debi Holmes-Binney did something many of us will only dream about doing. She risked her life to find something beyond the routine day. Determined to escape society for 40 days and nights, she was trucked into the remote Great Salt Lake Desert in the heart of winter without gun or phone and was 25 miles from the nearnest house or store. When she almost died her second night there in a freak snow storm, she had a second chance at life. What followed was a remarkable inner journey of universal appeal. Her honesty is almost as frightening as it is beautiful. Her writing is strong, poetic--to the point. I couldn't put the book down after the first page. Highly recommended for any woman intrigued with her own being and not afraid to step from the herd. I left the book feeling closer to myself, Nature and those I love.