A Dance in the Desert

By Mindy B. Gibbins-Klein

Kate Bennett isn't looking for love, but it shows up in a surprising and dramatic package. Matt Reynolds arrives on the scene with a flash of all-American heroism and treats Kate and her friends to a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595185304
• ISBN13: 9780595185306
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Ending the silence that binds our fears...

For those of us living with and loving individuals with disabilities this graceful novel gives voice to our silent fears in hopeful transmutation. Brilliantly crafted characters you need to meet draw you into their lives with gorgeus narratives examining perennial questions of why this life? Why me? Why these circumstances? The answers you are free to derive. The author's hidden message to slow life down, to know the other essentially will hold you in a spell as you turn each page. Please read this and give to any one you love.

Beautiful & Sensitive Book About Friends, Love & Epilepsy

Mindy did an excellent job in writing this lovely book "A Dance in the Desert." I am very intrigued with new authors and always love reading their first novels. I must say that Mindy's command of words and ability to write about such a sensitive issue was phenomenal. This book you will not want to put down. As a reader, she made me aware of how people treat individuals that have epilepsy. I am ashamed of how individuals can be so insensitive. Her characters were wonderful and I was always cheering for their success. A worderful thing to note is that a portion of her profits are being donated to the Epilespy Foundation and I applaud her in her selfless efforts as a writer.

The search for love, happiness, and a stable home life

A Dance In The Desert by novelist Mindy Gibbins-Klein is a nicely crafted story of a man who searches for love, happiness, and a stable home life while coping with debilitating epilepsy. Set against the harsh yet majestic beauty of the Arizona desert, A Dance In The Desert embraces the spirit of friendship in an increasingly remote modern world, and pulls the heart with a star-crossed love affair. Highly recommended reading from an author who, within the context of her own life, has experienced the loss of two close friends to epilepsy.

A powerful, well-constructed story about love and healing

A Dance in the Desert is a powerful story which confronts many difficult issues. The principal character Matt is strikingly handsome, supremely confident, deeply humane with a magnetic personality. One day his life as a high school athletics instructor changes dramatically after an accidental fall which brings on epileptic seizures. The story deals with Matt's attitude to epilepsy, and the attitude of friends and colleagues towards Matt. We see how ignorance of epilepsy manifests itself in prejudice, especially in the workplace. The story turns on this incident, but there is also a study of a platonic friendship at the sexually tantalising threshold. Matt and Kate are colleagues, with Kate having been wounded by her failed marriage to an alcoholic. She has left her broken marriage in New York for a new lifestyle in Arizona. Matt's unsuccessful conventional treatment allows an exploration of spiritual healing, which does not find favour with Matt's erstwhile girlfriend Julie. Here there is a real conflict between orthodox and radical courses of treatment for epilepsy. A Dance in the Desert is well-constructed, capturing the dry, tranquil atmosphere of Arizona. It delivers a shock-ending, with a dance in the desert providing a cathartic closure.

Dances with your emotions!

If you're thinking that this is another 'romance' novel, forget it! Romance is part of the story, but this is nothing like the typical 'heaving bosom' stuff so prelevant in publishing.Inspired partly by the author's personal experiences, this book tells the story of an exceptionally gifted person (Matt) who is accidentally stricken with a little-known and less-understood disease. The story dramatically tells about the everyday struggles faced by him and his friends, and how they deal with his condition.It also shows the damage that can be caused by people in authority who can't or won't understand how to help epilepsy sufferers, and how their actions can have tragic consequences.Ms. Gibbins-Klein nicely blends this storyline to include Zen, Navajo, and Oriental philosophies to provide an interesting twist and eloquently explore the fears, hopes, and the love the characters share. This book deserves to be read - it is a tribute to the people behind the characers, and is truly written from the heart.