Small Bird [Paperback]

Elizabeth Cunningham (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Station Hill, 2000 (2000)
• ASIN: B000J0W39M
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,422,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Cunningham is the direct descendant of nine generations of Episcopal priests. She grew up hearing rich (sometimes terrifying) liturgical and biblical language. When she was not in church or school, she read fairytales and fantasy novels or wandered in the enchanted wood of an overgrown, abandoned estate next door to the rectory. Her religious background, the magic of fairytales, and the numinous experience of nature continue to inform her work.

After being altogether too good and studious during her earliest years, Cunningham was expelled from a progressive boarding school for nudity. She subsequently earned a GED and went on to The College of General Studies at Boston University. From there she transferred to Harvard-Radcliffe College where she graduated in 1976 with BA in English and American language and literature. Somehow, she resisted the temptation to go to seminary to study for the Episcopal priesthood. The possibility was especially tempting, because, at that time, ordination of women was not allowed. When the church ruled in favor of women's ordination a few months later, she heaved a sigh of relief and went on writing The Wild Mother, her first novel, hailed by Publishers Weekly as a beguiling tour de force.

The Passion of Mary Magdalen, the centerpiece of The Maeve Chronicles, is Cunningham's fifth novel, and the book she believes she was born to write. Her other novels include The Return of the Goddess, a Divine Comedy; The Wild Mother; and How to Spin Gold, a Woman's Tale (re-released by Epigraph, May 2009). Magdalen Rising, the prequel to The Passion of Mary Magdalen was published in 2007. Bright Dark Madonna, the sequel, was published in April 2009. Red-Robed Priestess, the fourth and final Maeve Chronicle, was published in Novemeber, 2011.

Cunningham is also the author of two collections of poetry Small Bird, and Wild Mercy.

Although Cunningham managed to avoid becoming an Episcopal priest, she graduated from The New Seminary in 1997 and was ordained as an interfaith minister and counselor. Both The Maeve Chronicles and her interfaith ministry express Cunningham's profound desire to reconcile her Christian roots with her call to explore the divine feminine.

Since her ordination, Cunningham has been in private practice as a counselor and maintains that the reading and writing of novels has been as important to this work as her seminary training.

The mother of grown children, Cunningham lives with her husband in the Hudson Valley.

Elizabeth (and Maeve, the Celtic Mary Magdalen) can be followed on twitter, on her blog and on facebook. The links follow:

http://elizabethandmaeve.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61625329756&ref=ts

http://twitter.com/EliznMaeve

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, moving work, March 13, 2000

By 

Patricia Monaghan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Bird (Paperback)

I was familiar with Elizabeth Cunningham's magnificent fiction when I picked up this book of poetry, but even despite my enjoyment of her prose work, I was stunned speechless by the simple and profound beauty of her words. I found myself emailing friends around the nation with various poems, and calling local friends to read special favorites. This book will never leave my shelf!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Earthy and luminous--wonderful poems, February 17, 2000

By 

C. Johnson "wellpriestess" (Hudson Valley, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Small Bird (Paperback)

This poetry is fresh and strong as a good cup of coffee, powerful in its simplicity, sometimes very funny, always meaningful. Everyone will find something to treasure in Small Bird--it is a jewel of a book, with the power to move, to inspire, even to heal. Give it to all your friends: they will love it as much as mine do. All of us have discovered poems here that will be guides and talismans for us, lifelong. Beautiful!

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really about a small bird or any other aspect of nature, February 21, 2005

By 

merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Bird (Paperback)

Not what I expected. I had been looking for a book of nature poems - one that celebrated the wonders of nature and pointed out its subtleties in poetic ways that make you think. This book doesn't do that. Most of the poems are written in the first person (e.g. I did this.....my mind does that, etc). There are words and analogies from nature mixed in but its definitely more about the author's predicaments or struggles rather than about the beauty of nature itself. An example is the one entitled Mother's day...."Praise to my mother, who is now the dirt I crumble in my hands as I dig to plant flowers on her grave....." I think the overall theme of the poems has more to do with self reflection, reflecting on the death of her mother, reflecting on childhood, etc. There are a few poems that I liked but it just wasn't the nature focus I had expected.