The Seeker Academy Bookblog

“With exquisite facility of language, L.D. Gussin takes us on a very real spiritual journey; the ups, the downs, the all arounds. I’ve been there. L.D. Gussin nails it!” — Nancy Slonim Aronie

[Nancy Slonim Aronie is an author and writing teacher who leads workshops at Esalen, Omega Institute, Kripalu, Naropa, The Crossings, Rowe, and other retreat centers. A longtime NPR commentator, she has taught at Harvard in the Literature for Social Reflection course led by the writer, psychiatrist, and professor Robert Coles. At Harvard, she has twice received a Bok Center Certificate of Distinction in Teaching award.]

“What [Grace] finds is a fascinating array of personalities, ranging from breathless credulity before all things “mystical” to a sharp skepticism; everyone, however, is hungry for the truth…. Many are the lines and passages in Seeker Academy that sing on the page, that make one shake one’s head in admiration. Gussin possesses a rare ability to avoid abstraction even when he is writing about rarefied philosophical issues; he can capture nuances of thought and interpretation in strikingly vivid language, and can convey them with an air of effortless grace. In short, it is my view that Seeker Academy is … a highly impressive novel, and that Gussin is a writer robustly coming into his own.” — Christopher Noel (author, Hazard and the Five Delights and In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing)

“When Grace Hudson’s niece is stricken with leukemia, the devoted aunt spends many hours at her bedside. She also encounters other suffering children during her time in the hospital, and, in the face of their pain … Grace’s distress intensifies. Eventually, it becomes clear that her grief at these children’s plights is a manifestation of a deeper, existential suffering. At the suggestion of friends, she parts from her husband and son … and suburb for a several week stay at the Seeker Academy, a holistic retreat. The bulk of the … thoughtfully-composed … story traces Grace’s own spiritual journey at the Academy, as she attends yoga classes and workshops, performs daily chores and … engages in lengthy dialogues with other students and faculty … seekers of inner peace and community … whose differing viewpoints imbue the narrative with a satisfying richness.” — Kirkus Discoveries