Dance the River Whale by Ron Mercier
Category:	Spirituality	Publisher:	Deerbridge Books	ISBN-10:	0966852702	Type:
Pages:	256	Copyright:	Mar 16 1999			Fiction

Having struggled against odds to recover his love for his estranged grandfather, Tom learns that this love extends beyond his immediate family, and leads him to the discovery of his Mohawk heritage and destiny as spiritual healer among his People. Buy your copy! Amazon Barnes & Noble.com Deerbridge Books Picasso Publications When twenty-four-year-old Tom Tetreault becomes consumed with a self-destructive hate for his grandfather, a near-death experience introduces him to invisible forces that enable him not only to recover his own life, but to help his grandfather die as he had seldom lived- in peace. The intermediary between Tom and those forces for life is a spirit guide called Dark Woman, modeled after the Wise Woman of the Iroquois nations. From a small Massachusets fishing town, through New Hampshire and Vermont, to the banks of the St. Lawrence River, she accompanies him on an extraordinary journey to forgiveness and reconciliation. Excerpt "It wasn't long before I knew that the presence had taken me for an interloper. I felt its alarm, that I'd encroached upon its retreat. While the shrillness of that silent alarm urged escape, I chose instead to study the texture and grain of wide-planked flooring beneath my unsteady feet. Then, I glimpsed, floating through shadow, shimmers that became realities- of ratttle,gourd, handle and horn. In the midst danced a huge grotesque red mask. Confronted by the visible presence of what might well have been the Enemy, I waited, aghast, for it to reveal the truth of its nature and intent."

Paperback

Dance the River Whale
"Tom, the son of a French Canadian father who died when he was very young and an Indian mother whom he has never met, finds himself in a web of hatred and a hell of drunkenness. As he walks distractedly along railroad tracks by the stream near Cannery Bridge, a rainbow river whale appears, startling him into presentness. In this modern medicine tale, the visions of the shaman and the ordinary experience of a son of two worlds intermingle beautifully as we follow a journey of truth and restoration begun that momentous afternoon. Anna, the woman who leads him back to health and teaches him about love, Tom's grandfather, Pepere Tetreault, who has been holding a precious secret but is now dying and must reveal it, the Dark Woman- each character reflects a facet of the spiritual search and the return to wholeness for those caught between warring worlds and their very different realities."-NAPRA ReView

Dance the River Whale
"Dance the River Whale is written on many levels, which is what sets it apart from ordinary books. It is a marvelous story by a truly gifted writer that heralds the human ability to vanquish demons. More, it is a melding of several spiritual paths... all leading to the same golden goal, enlightenment." -Richard Fuller, Metaphysical Reviews

Dance the River Whale
"... as it [the story] unfolds, slowly at first, then with facts that tumble over the pages like a rushing, cleansing waterfall, Tom is assisted by powerful American Indian visions and voices that are eventually revealed and have a direct reference to his own ancestry.
The peaceful ending will probably haunt readers for a while or at least until the author gives us another related novel.
There is also much to ponder in a story that successfully combines the elements of philosophy, religion, and wisdom."
-Lorraine Lauzon, The Paper