DEERFIELD — It was an unusual birthday gift that Stephen Billias gave his wife, Bela Breslau: an offer to write a book together.
“I had an idea for a novel with a young woman as the protagonist and decided to bring Bela in as co-author for her insights into the feminine psyche,” he said. “Also, Bela had always wanted to write a book. My offer was a birthday present to her!”
That book, “Pilgrim Maya,” tells the story of a woman who has suffered the kind of devastating loss that could easily destroy the rest of her life – or transform her into a powerful force for love and healing. It was published on Aug. 1.
It’s the story of Maya Marinovich who has lost her husband and baby daughter in a freak car crash. To find a new start, Maya leaves Boston for San Francisco and gets involved briefly but passionately with the leader of a Japanese-Jewish cult movement. Next, she lands a job as assistant property manager for The Bon Vivants, a group of artsts in a co-housing building in Oakland. Later she learns details about the car crash and spirals into depression and thoughts of suicide. In the final chapters, Maya meets Buddhist teachers Eli Ronen and his wife, Reva, and begins a lifelong process of healing and transformation, finding meaning through helping others.
“This novel explores growth and resilience after suffering a great tragedy,” Breslau said. “The main character, Maya, is on a journey to find spiritual salvation. She goes down several false paths before finding redemption in socially engaged Buddhism.”
“Pilgrim Maya” is written in the first person and present tense, “an unusual combination that gives the book freshness and immediacy,” Billias pointed out.
There were both joys and challenges to writing the book as a married couple. “This partnership draws on our different viewpoints and life experiences to create a rich and complex study of the main character, Maya, and her progression from lost soul to enlightened Zen student,” Billias said. “We passed a single electronic file back and forth, each editing the new entry by the other and then adding another piece. The result was seamless.”
Many couples, some who are writers and creative people, have told the authors, of Deerfield, they would never be able to write together. “We were lucky. We developed an exciting collaboration that informed the book and also enriched our marriage,” Breslau said. “A member of our local writers’ group, Straw Dog Writer’s Guild, interviewed us for their website and asked about our ‘literary partnership.’”
Since then, the couple has been using the phrases “literary couple” and “literary marriage” which, she said, make them both happy.
Billias came up with the story line but wanted a feminine perspective. Breslau needed outlines and character descriptions, and they collaborated on developing those. “I would often come up with descriptions based on people we knew,” she said. “At first it was a big experiment.”
They decided not to tell anyone what they were doing until they reached at least 100 pages. “As Stephen said, it quickly became a seamless process. I do not know whether I wrote a particular section or if Stephen wrote it,” she commented.
In September the couple will embark on a 30th anniversary road trip/book tour; they will travel throughout the country visiting friends, stopping at national parks and doing book signings along the way. Nine bookstores are scheduled.
Billias has been a published creative writer for more than 40 years and is the author of seven published science fiction/fantasy novels. His most recent work is a book of short stories, “A Book of Fields, Tales from the Pioneer Valley.” In addition to “Pilgrim Maya,” Breslau is working on a book about her father, inspired by interviews and family stories.
There will be a book launch party for “Pilgrim Maya” on Oct. 29 at Windhorse Hill Retreat Center in Deerfield from 2 to 4 p.m.
The paperback has 372 pages and retails for $16. It is being published by Odeon Press.
“Pilgrim Maya” is available on Amazon in either paperback or Kindle version and on Barnes & Noble in either paperback or Nook version. It also is available on iTunes, Rakuten kobo and IndieBound.
For more information, go to billiasbreslauwriters.com/pilgrim-maya.
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