AMHERST, Mass., June 14, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- In A Portable Egypt, Catherine Madsen explores the world of contemporary abortion politics. Rather than producing thinly disguised propaganda, she explores the platitudes and dogmas of both sides. The characters we meet are real, flesh and blood, caring and complex and often confused. Caught in the ethical and emotional friction between religion and civil rights, they behave in ways that contradict their own opinions. The choices demanded of them by other people and by their own beliefs and desires are often painful, suffocating, ironic, or outright dangerous.
A Portable Egypt focuses on four people whose lives have drawn them to the battleground of abortion politics. In attempting to navigate between the moral attractions and comforts of religion and the dictates of their own private consciences, they open themselves to influences and reactions from strangers, fanatics, and well-meaning people on both sides of the issue who have found comfort in simple answers.
We meet Mim Como, a young woman who does not feel at home in religion, but who finds religion a recurring necessity; Alan Lonigan, an opinion columnist who feels at home only in religion, but whose religion puts him in an impossible position; Sarita Bunge, a dressmaker to whom religion is alien because she has art, along with access to its deeper powers; and Bob Morgenzahl, a doctor to whom religion is unnecessary because he has found his fulfillment in compassionate action. Together they attract forces that they could not predict. By turns disarming, satirical, and erotic, A Portable Egypt is always compelling. The characters and their struggles resonate in the mind long after the reading is done. There are no easy answers here, but the quality of the questions will challenge you in ways you cannot foresee.
To order a copy of Catherine Madsen's A Portable Egypt, visit your local bookstore or log on at Xlibris.com today.
About the Author
Catherine Madsen is the author of In Medias Res, a book of original liturgy for people estranged from religion; The Bones Reassemble, a groundbreaking critique of modern liturgical language; many essays, and two albums of songs. She is a former contributing editor to the interreligious journal, CrossCurrents.
A Portable Egypt * by Catherine Madsen
Publication Date: July 5, 2002
Trade Paperback; $21.24; 416 pages; 978-1-4010-4182-3
Cloth Hardback; $31.49; 416 pages; 978-1-4010-4183-0
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7479. Tear sheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x.7876.
Xlibris books can be purchased at Xlibris bookstore. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.