There are great moments, memorable moments and joyous moments; but every once-in-a-while there comes along an occurrence that can only be classified as a peak experience. Last week I got a call from Nan A. Talese, the high priestess of all New York editor/publishers, saying those three little words that insecure authors crave to hear, “Love your book!” My agent, wonder-woman Marly Rusoff, made the deal less than two weeks after sending out the manuscript.

My novel THE HEALING will be published under Nan’s own imprint at Random House in early early 2012. Here’s the quick elevator talk summarizing the plot:

THE HEALING opens in 1930’s Mississippi. A child, traumatized by witnessing her mother’s death, is abandoned to the care of the discredited healer whose traditional cure caused the woman’s demise. Gran Gran, the ancient doctoress, who has failed not only the child’s mother, but the entire community as well, is presented with one last attempt at redemption. Gran Gran must lead this child out of her catatonic darkness. At first, the old woman’s mixtures of roots, herbs and potions have no effect. It is only when Gran Gran revives the buried memory of her own childhood, and begins whispering the stories aloud, that the girl begins to respond. Over the course of the healing, Gran Gran weaves the story of a life spent on a Mississippi plantation as a reluctant apprentice to the cantankerous slave doctoress and miracle worker, Polly Shine. Together Gran Gran and the girl Violet learn of the power of story to heal the body, the spirit and the soul of an entire people.

I’ll keep you updated as we go through the editing and pre-publication process. After 6 years, the stars have aligned.

Publishers Marketplace – September 28, 2010 - Jonathan Odell’s THE HEALING opens in 1930s Mississippi when a young girl traumatized by her mother’s death is abandoned to the care of Gran Gran, an ancient midwife and plantation healer whose mixtures of roots, herbs, and potions fail to help the mother but whose tales of her life on a Mississippi plantation as a reluctant apprentice to a brilliant slave doctor teach them both the power of story to heal the body, spirit and ultimately an entire community, to Nan Talese at Nan A. Talese, with Ronit Feldman editing, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

I am more than happy to announce that my new novel, The Healing, will be represented by New York uber-agent Marly Rusoff. It feels like karma. Pat Conroy, who is also on her client list, hooked me on the idea of writing about the South when I read his book, The Prince of Tides. The Healing is my second novel and explores the subversive nature of slave healers on a Mississippi plantation in 1860. It is such a wonderful feeling to have another human being, especially one as informed as Marly, share my enthusiasm for this project. I’ll keep you posted as we go to the publishers.

MISSISSIPPI PRESS ASSOICIATION (MPA) announced that the column I wrote for The Review of Jones County, a paper in Laurel, Mississippi, (my hometown) has been awarded First Place for a Series of Stories. The columns were based on interviews I did while collecting background information for my upcoming novel, The Healing. Dozens of people, black and white, shared their family lore concerning the county’s scandalous Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow past. MPA judges singled out the series for special mention by offering an additional commendation: “Phenomenal! What a great idea and what great reading! Riveting from the start. By embracing all the controversy and giving space to all those voices, you’ve created a truly engrossing series for your readers. First by a huge margin!”

I’m happy to share a few of those columns with you as they appeared in The Review. Click here!

More and more we are acknowledging the crucial role story plays in the human experience. In fact, psychologists insist that a “coherent narrative,” a story that gives expression to one’s circumstance and anticipates one’s future, is a necessary requirement for mental health. Otherwise, on what basis would we make our choices in the world?

People who have experienced severe emotional trauma cannot heal until they can integrate the experience into their life’s story. They have to be able to talk about it, communicate in words what happened. This is the only way they can eventually master the experience rather than letting it consume and ultimately define them.

We are all in search of our own story, a narrative that gives our lives meaning, a glue that holds together all the disparate pieces of our individual histories and makes sense of the time we spend on earth. A story not only provides a coherent way to view the past, but enables us to anticipate the future. It gives us our “outlook.” Our story is also our bridge to other people. For us to be known, our story must be known.

A shared story is what holds cultures, nations, families, together. It gives people the “sameness,” the unity of experience, shared assumptions and common ground that allows a people to think and act as an entity. It is as if a culture is a myriad of mirrors, all facing outward. When members look at each other, to a large extent they see themselves reflected back. The more unified the culture, the less dissention about what the story is. It is just “understood.”

It should come as no surprise that an essential step in creating intimate, trusting relationships, is the exchange of stories between people. “This is who I am,” we are saying. As we listen to another person’s experiences, their motivations, their history, their dreams and aspirations, their fears, and they listen to ours, a brand-new story is forged, our shared story. This shared story is called a relationship, that collection of common understandings and mutual expectations. With a common pool of understanding we can more effectively think and act together, plan for a shared future.

Creating relationship can be a one-time event or a process that evolves over a lifetime. What is required is a mutual sharing and listening. It doesn’t mean we like each other, or even support one another’s goal, but we can more clearly “see” each other. We become known to one another.