{"product_id":"a-pelican-in-the-wilderness-isbn-9781582435916","title":"A Pelican in the Wilderness","description":"From Lao–tse and the Buddha, St. Anthony and the early Celtic hermits, through Rousseau, Thoreau, Ruskin, and up to the present day, certain gifted persons have shown a vocation for living alone and apart, finding in simplicity and attention to nature a spiritual space to be explored and rejoiced in. Others, retreating from the world in scorn or cut off from it by scandal, have found that solitude is Hell, a pit of melancholy and morbid fancy. In this, her first work of nonfiction, novelist Isabel Colegate gives us the lives of the solitaries — male and female, medieval and modern, divinely inspired and patently fraudulent. But this is no mere gallery of saints and sinners, poets and misanthropes. It is also a reevaluation of solitude for our times, and a reminder that it is in solitude that the soul meets itself, refreshes itself, and from there goes out to join the communal dance.Praise for \u003ci\u003eA Pelican in the Wilderness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Few books contain a cast of characters as fascinating as those who populate \u003ci\u003eA Pelican in the Wilderness\u003c\/i\u003e, Isabel Colegate's charming meander through the history of hermits and solitaries. Elegantly written . . . a small gem of a book.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A bright and highly literate study of asceticism in both the East and the West.\" —\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is a charming book . . . witty and sagacious, entertaining and persuasive. It is not a volume that can be characterized as history or memoir or even a travel book but contains the best elements of all.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eIsabel Colegate\u003c\/b\u003e was born in London and has long lived near Bath. She is the author of fourteen books, including, \u003ci\u003eThe Shooting Party\u003c\/i\u003e and, most recently, the acclaimed novel \u003ci\u003eWinter Journey\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Counterpoint","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300077654245,"sku":"NP9781582435916","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781582435916.jpg?v=1767720697","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/a-pelican-in-the-wilderness-isbn-9781582435916","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}