Where Stillness Speaks

About the Book

WHERE STILLNESS SPEAKS, Inspired by original Shaker journals By Margaret C. Price Experiencing a mystical flight through time to a Shaker utopia (Civil War, 1863), an investigative journalist discovers a secret that frees her from demons of her past, empowering her to speak her truth in WHERE STILLNESS SPEAKS, historical fiction. The novel unfolds a woman’s transformational healing journey in two different time periods. Present day at the authentically restored Shaker village of Pleasant Hill, and the Past, a short time after the horrific battle of Perryville. WHERE STILLNESS SPEAKS is a love story played out against the backdrop of a Shaker utopia. It is a utopia of time-travel, of places where the skin between the worlds is thin, a place apart from modern day chaos and violence. The core values of the Shaker utopia (respect for the earth, pacifism, racial and sexual equality, belief in a spirit world) resonate still today. The novel invites the reader to Pleasant Hill where Trappist monk Thomas Merton wandered among the abandoned buildings and “listened to the Silence” while sitting on a chair made by someone “perfectly capable of believing an Angel could come and sit down on it.”

About the Author

Who I am and Why I write are shaped by the voices of those who have entrusted me with their soul-stories: Children abandoned, refugees imprisoned, stray dogs, magnificent moochers and crooked ear llamas. As a recipient of the Ky. Arts Council’s AL SMITH FELLOWSHIP for Artistic Achievement as a Screenwriter and/or Playwright, I write about unlikely heroes, drawing from my first job (with a brilliant mentor, Al Smith) as director of the Ky. Bicentennial Oral History Project. Traveling Kentucky back roads, I gleaned stories about Winter Shakers and race horses switched and a little girl who grew up to become Madam Belle Brezing. I am a storyteller whose stories sculpt passion into award-winning stage-plays or screenplays like BELLE BREZING (presented at the NY National Opera Theatre), DOVE AND DANDELION presented at Capitol Hill for members of the US Senate and House, and produced into a hard-hitting film about children in jail. LOOKING FOR MRS. SANTA CLAUS was produced as a musical for Studio Players, Ky.). Honored screenplays include UNGENTLE TRUTH (produced film), THE TEARS OF THE SILVER LIONS (a Nicholls quarter-finalist) MIRAGE, a finalist in the Austin Film Festival Pitch Competition and semi-finalist Austin Film Festival and Nashville Film Festival. As a member of the Writers Guild, I continue to write scripts that speak to the Oneness of all. (STAR HORSE, semi-finalist, ISA Emerging Screenwriters). My education (Northwestern University, UK Law School, Queens College, Cambridge University – International Law study, and American Film Institute, Advanced Screenplay Writing) gifted me with empowering teachers. My family gifted me with the spirit of resilience, strong roots and the magic of words whispered louder than all the rejections – “Chase your dreams.” To those who have inspired, believed in my writing and held me in their Light, I am deeply grateful.