Kirjahaku

The spiritual search is an unfolding mystery that takes as many forms as there are seekers on the path. Whatever it is that compels a person to search for that mysterious and gripping missing link in our being, has a narrative of its own, no two are ever the same.A barefoot holy man blesses a Moroccan child in the marketplace in Casablanca, Find the bird with crooked wings, he tells her. Unwavering in her determination, Shaafia becomes a translator, but not merely of words.A drop-out frenchman is carried off from a beach in Goa. In a Hindu ashram Th ophile is commanded to study an ancient Indian scripture and then is abruptly sent home to serve the reincarnation of the crippled saint who wrote it.An Australian nurse searches for her lost aboriginal heritage in the desert, where, after her initiation, the elders tell her of the birth of her spirit child. When Kate finds it, the child is unlike any she has ever seen.Like spokes on a wheel, drawn in towards the hub, seemingly unrelated incidents launch unexpected journeys, where disparate characters confront their obstacles and their preconceptions, finally to arrive at a mutual rendezvous in a crumbling french ch teau. When each of them recognises that they have discovered the goal of their search, they find each other.The goal of their search however is not what they had expected.Trapped in a physically disabled body lives a child with the power to open others to their own potential. Pia is eight years old. She has cerebral palsy but she also has the subtle and powerful wisdom of an ancient soul."Crooked Wings" is a story of interwoven journeys, of revelation and restoration, where every pilgrim, driven by their thirst to know, pursues a unique path and must learn to read the sign posts of their progress in their own personal language. The ultimate message is about Love, is about finding the heart, is about trusting that, within each of them, their questioning can be answered.

Mektoub, they say in Arabic. It is written. Whatever you think, whatever you say, whatever you do, it has a consequence. And although we may not be aware of them, perhaps there is someone witnessing the whole thing. Not just witnessing but taking note to be entered into the Book of Consequences, the record of everything that has ever taken place. To be a witness, according to some philosophies, you have to have transcended the seemingly endless go-round of life and death. Stepping off that treadmill, it is said, you can sit back and watch others still journeying on. In a state of detachment, you assume the role of recording what is significant. Lives begin. Souls take on bodies yet again and try to fulfill their souls intentions yet again. Some make it, some do not. It is all written. In different parts of the world, each seemingly disconnected, individuals play out their lives. A writer in New Zealand and his homeless muse, a widow in Adelaide, a fingerless guitarist, two American academics, a Spanish saint, a gifted child in Amsterdam, an elderly Lebanese shoemaker, an Australian jihadist, and a drifting orphan who learns to hate the French. What do they all have in common? Nothing, it seems, except for the one who watches them all and annotates what is worth recording. And yet there is something moresomething that not even the notetaker can foresee. Everything has consequences. As they say, it is written.

The spiritual search is an unfolding mystery that takes as many forms as there are seekers on the path. Whatever it is that compels a person to search for that mysterious and gripping missing link in our being has a narrative of its own, no two are ever the same.A barefoot holy man blesses a Moroccan child in the marketplace in Casablanca, Find the bird with crooked wings, he tells her. Unwavering in her determination, Shaafia becomes a translator, but not merely of words.A drop-out frenchman is carried off from a beach in Goa. In a Hindu ashram Th ophile is commanded to study an ancient Indian scripture and then is abruptly sent home to serve the reincarnation of the crippled saint who wrote it.An Australian nurse searches for her lost aboriginal heritage in the desert, where after her initiation, the elders tell her of the birth of her spirit child. When Kate finds it, thechild is unlike any she has ever seen.Like spokes on a wheel, drawn in towards the hub, seemingly unrelated incidents launch unexpected journeys, where disparate characters confront their obstacles and their preconceptions, finally to arrive at a mutual rendez-vous in a crumbling french ch teau. When each of them recognises that they have discovered the goal of their search, they find each other.The goal of their search however is not what they had expected.Trapped in a physically disabled body lives a child with the power to open others to their own potential. Pia is eight years old. She has cerebral palsy but she also has the subtle and powerful wisdom of an ancient soul.Crooked Wings is a timeless story of interwoven journeys, of revelation and restoration, where every pilgrim, driven by their thirst to know, pursues a unique path and must learn to read the sign posts of their progress in their own personal language. The ultimatemessage is about Love, is about finding the heart, is about trusting that within each of them, their questioning can be answered.

The spiritual search is an unfolding mystery that takes as many forms as there are seekers on the path. Whatever it is that compels a person to search for that mysterious and gripping missing link in our being has a narrative of its own, no two are ever the same. A barefoot holy man blesses a Moroccan child in the marketplace in Casablanca, Find the bird with crooked wings, he tells her. Unwavering in her determination, Shaafia becomes a translator, but not merely of words. A drop-out frenchman is carried off from a beach in Goa. In a Hindu ashram Th ophile is commanded to study an ancient Indian scripture and then is abruptly sent home to serve the reincarnation of the crippled saint who wrote it. An Australian nurse searches for her lost aboriginal heritage in the desert, where after her initiation, the elders tell her of the birth of her spirit child. When Kate finds it, the child is unlike any she has ever seen. Like spokes on a wheel, drawn in towards the hub, seemingly unrelated incidents launch unexpected journeys, where disparate characters confront their obstacles and their preconceptions, finally to arrive at a mutual rendez-vous in a crumbling french ch teau. When each of them recognises that they have discovered the goal of their search, they find each other. The goal of their search however is not what they had expected. Trapped in a physically disabled body lives a child with the power to open others to their own potential. Pia is eight years old. She has cerebral palsy but she also has the subtle and powerful wisdom of an ancient soul. Crooked Wings is a timeless story of interwoven journeys, of revelation and restoration, where every pilgrim, driven by their thirst to know, pursues a unique path and must learn to read the sign posts of their progress in their own personal language. The ultimate message is about Love, is about finding the heart, is about trusting that within each of them, their questioning can be answered.

A small Moroccan girl from a large but impoverished family receives a quest from a barefoot holy man on a bridge in Casablanca. Find the Bird with Crooked Wings. Shaafia grows up never forgetting her quest. She journeys to Bordeaux for her studies as a translator and there the quest is fulfilled. A tiny physically handicapped Australian child named Pia is the deeply gifted reincarnation of an ancient Indian sage and it is through Shaafia that she is able to communicate. Around them, in an old French ch teau, gather other souls who have also been given quests. As each encounters Pia, miracles large and small ensue.However the life of Pia is shortlived and she dies in a pool of blood before the statue of the Virgin in Lourdes in France. This is the story that takes place in the first volume of the Crooked Wings Trilogy. It is not the end of the story. Pia's ability to communicate does not cease with her physical death and those miracles persist in the second volume, Spreading Wings and the ch teau becomes a site of pilgrimage..Now, in the third volume of the Crooked Wings trilogy, Shaafia finds herself returning to her native Morocco. She is not the shy, tremulous student she was when she left. She soon discovers that she has acquired many of the gifts that so inspired her in Pia. Shaafia finds herself guided to act on her own. No longer is she only the translator for Pia but other unseen beings guide her.As she comes to recognise her own powers, so she realises that she can inspire others. Her previously abject family comes to life one by one, she finds herself able to access information she never knew she had. Against her however there are also dark forces. Not everyone wants to see her succeed. As she trusts more and more deeply in her newfound powers, Shaafia rises to face her new challenges and around her others soon recognise what she can do.The house where all this finally comes to fruition, Ocean House, Darou Al Bahr in Arabic, comes back to life from dereliction and becomes a holy place once again.