Molecules and Women

About the Book

A collection of fifteen vignettes, Molecules and Women takes a journey through the lives of women connected invisibly across time and space. The narratives carry and embody the voices and actions of women, some spoken, some witnessed, some experienced firsthand. They illuminate pivotal moments, some disguised as ordinary events, others where loss and grief are so overwhelming, or surprise and joy so transformative that the well from which wisdom springs forth is revealed.

In the title story, “Molecules and Women,” Philomena Jackson North, a little girl who goes by the name Willow, surprises her mother, Leona, with her deep thoughts about the world around her. In “The Night the Wave Broke,” Carla, on the eve of giving birth in a remote mountain village in Spain, seriously questions her husband’s sanity and her unborn child’s safety.

As women come together, the interstices become portals into the deeper chambers of the heart, and questions confronted daily are invited, embraced, and lived. Molecules and Women explores a spiral path of lessons learned, lost, and remembered, into the unfolding landscape of dwelling and discovery.

About the Author

Paola Giorgio, a native of San Francisco, preserves the pilgrim’s path as storyteller, healer, mother and grandmother. She walks with and strengthens women on their journeys of transformation through listening, ceremony and healing practices. She brings to her work formal studies in alternative health modalities, extensive travel and cross-cultural experience. She currently lives in Inverness, California.