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The Devil’s Pulpit & Other Mostly True Scottish Misadventures

The Devil’s Pulpit & Other Mostly True Scottish Misadventures
By author: E.J. Wade, Karen Spears Zacharias
Product Code: P708
ISBN: 9780881460179
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On the heels of a global pandemic, two post-menopausal Appalachian women, one black, one white, abandoned hearth, home, and spouses shrugging in dubious wonderment to live and study abroad together in a university flat along Scotland's River Ayr. Poet E.J. Wade and author Karen Spears Zacharias roamed from the depths of Finnich Glen to the outcroppings of Dunure Castle. Sometimes wishing they'd been raised by Buddhist Monks instead of by foul-mouthed chain-smoking Appalachian mothers, these two University of the West of Scotland grad students embraced the wandering spirits of their matriarchal ancestors and left no ScotRail ticket unused. In Glasgow's Sloans Ballroom, as musicians reimagined the compositions of writer and abolitionist Ignatius Sancho, they danced a cèilidh. Along Edinburgh's High Street, Wade performed a salsa. Hiking past windsurfers and golfers, they went in search of fairies and unearthed magical moments. They snuzzled Highland coos in Stranraer and stood gap-mouthed before the Falkirk Kelpies.THE DEVIL'S PULPIT & OTHER MOSTLY TRUE SCOTTISH MISADVENTURES is part travelogue, part memoir, part poetry, and in outlandish Scottish storytelling tradition, a wee bit of winging it. Somewhere along Scotland's northernmost tip to its southernmost brigs, they forged a friendship that defies generations of racial animosity. At its heart, this collection is the rediscovery of friendships first formed through studying and mucking about.
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Reviews

Review by: Signe Pike, author of THE LOST QUEEN series and FAERY TALE - December 19, 2024
"A heartwarming collection that perfectly captures the magnificence of Scotland's landscapes and people."
Review by: Kari Gunter-Seymour, Ohio Poet Laureate and author of DIRT SONGS - December 19, 2024
"Coauthors E.J. Wade and Karen Spears Zacharias keep their promise of a plentitude of rousing escapades in this winningly creative collection of poems and short stories, in conversation with one another. Not even wily Uber drivers, 'frog-drowner weather' or 'the narrow-mindedness of men' can hold their characters back. Oh, reader, wouldn't we all love a turn at dancing at a genuine cèilidh; our partner clad in a kilt, minus 'bridal parties in high-heels and wedgie-shorts; and groups of Disco dancers wearing headphones and shouting out the lyrics to 'Dancing Queen'?"
Review by: Marjory Wentworth, author of ONE RIVER, ONE BOAT; and South Carolina Poet Laureate (2003-2020) - December 19, 2024
"Part travel journal, part memoir, part story about a friendship, this collection seamlessly weaves together prose and poetry like a harmonic musical chord. Rooted by a mutual longing for information about family history, poet E.J. Wade and prose writer Karen Spears Zacharias travel to Scotland, 'where / myth and legend riddle reality' to discover fundamental truths about where they come from and who they are in the world. Both writers bring an anthropological perspective to every encounter, creating a text that resonates far beyond these pages."

Goodreads reviews