The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine

With the exceptional storytelling skills that have helped make her name, the acclaimed author of “The Secret Life of Bees” tells her very personal story of the fear, anger, healing, and freedom she experienced on the path toward the wholeness that women have lost within patriarchal faith traditions.

Sue Monk Kidd was a “conventionally religious, churchgoing woman, a traditional wife and mother” until she began to question her role as a woman in her culture, her family, and her church. Kidd takes readers through the fear, anger, healing, and transformation of her awakening.

“I was amazed to find that I had no idea how to unfold my spiritual life in a feminine way. I was surprised, and, in fact, a little terrified, when I found myself in the middle of a feminist spiritual reawakening.” ––Sue Monk Kidd For years, Sue Monk Kidd was a conventionally religious woman. Then, in the late 1980s, Kidd experienced an unexpected awakening, and began a journey toward a feminine spirituality. With the exceptional storytelling skills that have helped make her name, author of When the Heart Waits tells her very personal story of the fear, anger, healing, and freedom she experienced on the path toward the wholeness that many women have lost in the church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore, to monastery retreats and to rituals in the caves of Crete, she reveals a new level of feminine spiritual consciousness for all women– one that retains a meaningful connection with the “deep song of Christianity,” embraces the sacredness of ordinary women’s experience, and has the power to transform in the most positive ways every fundamental relationship in a woman’s life– her marriage, her career, and her religion. This Plus edition paperback includes a recent interview with the author conducted by the book’s editor Michael Maudlin.