Hope Edelman, author of The Possibility of Everything (Oct 26-Nov 6)

Please welcome Hope Edelman, author of The Possibility of Everything. Hope will be chatting on LibraryThing from Monday October 26th until November 6th.

Hello Hope. Is it true that the Maya are genetically linked to the Japanese? I want to read your book. It sounds very interesting.

Hello, and thanks for the question!

I don't know anything about the genetic connection between the Maya and the Japanese, but I know there are quite a few similarities between Maya medicine and Chinese medicine, both in terms of beliefs and practices. I've read that both groups are believed to be descended from a common ancestor group that traveled across the Bering Strait and down into Mesoamerica, so that would create a historical genetic link between Asia and Central America.
If you're interested in the similar healing modalities, a good book to read is Wind in the Blood: Mayan Healing and Chinese Medicine.
Best,
Hope

Hello Hope,
I've been touched deeply by your books, and am grateful. The first one 'found me' Motherless Daughters when I was wandering around in a deep fog, lost and didn't know it. You gave Voice to my experience ~ my eldest of three children were coming of age that I was when both my parents died in an accident. I was orphaned at ten, and when your book leaped out at me, my eldest of three was ten and in fourth grade. That same son now is 18 and about to graduate! So the subject of my 'fog' is different, although it's just about as disorienting, those 'cues' that eviscerate me.

I will look for your book.

Good to find you somewhere else online, Hope. Hope the publicity is going well. My question is about the balance between telling your truth as a writer and protecting your children's privacy as a mother. As a mother/writer, I've struggled with this, and I'm curious how you've faced that dilemma.