Tracing the Moon

In a busy London hospital, a young nurse cares for people with HIV/AIDS. One night, at the bedside of a dying patient, the veil lifts between life and death, and she glimpses something she has never seen before.

Judith embarks on a quest to understand what she saw. She leaves her job, sells her houseboat and buys a one-way ticket to Bombay.

Her six-year search for meaning takes her to a humble Himalayan ashram where she embraces the sadhu's life of renunciation. She lives alone in a hut in the remote Parvati valley and visits monasteries and ashrams, temples and towns where the holy name of 'Ram' spills from everyone's lips.

In Lucknow Judith fi nds her guru, Papaji, who gives her a new name: Prem Kumari.

Many go to India seeking understanding but few delve into Indian spiritual traditions and into their own being as deeply as Kumari. She allows India to sweep her away, allows her sense of self to be rewritten and fi nds herself touching again that vast oneness she felt at the side of her dying patient. But in the process she must also face painful and long-buried truths about her own family.

With its lyrical and vibrant depiction of India and its people, "Tracing the Moon" transports the reader into the mystical heart of this most ancient and spiritual of countries.

Kumari's honest and moving account of her determined quest for enlightenment will touch and inspire all readers.