Finding Sanctity in Suffering
Review: Sacred Groves: Or, How a Cemetery Saved My Soul
Mickey Bratton
Kathleen Davies
Nonfiction: Memoir
Bedazzled Ink Publishing, pp. 262
Cost: $16.95
Review: Sacred Groves: Or, How a Cemetery Saved My Soul
Mickey Bratton
Kathleen Davies
Nonfiction: Memoir
Bedazzled Ink Publishing, pp. 262
Cost: $16.95
In her memoir Sacred Groves: Or, How a Cemetery Saved My Soul, Kathleen Davies examines the concept of identity through the lens of a novice female professor. Through her experiences as an outcast and stepping into new territories, Davies finds her purpose in life—ironically in a Victorian graveyard. The cemetery magically holds parallel to her internal battles in ways that are enlightening and serve as a heaven on earth in a world full of uncomfortable encounters. Not only does her muse scream at her, surrounded by mesmerizing architectural beauties in nature, but she has a self-awakening among her observations. Told with poems, witty snippets from her journey, and photographs of headstones and mausoleums taken with her own camera, Davies breathes life into the inanimate statues and lifeless tombs, making the local graveyard her “feminine space,” almost like a garden. By describing such a serene place using textures and voiced appreciations, Davies not only provokes imagination for herself, but also for the reader. She remarkably navigates through the unknown and speaks her truth with such vulnerability, revealing that through suffering, humans often find hidden truths.
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