title: Throwing Stones: A Braided Essay about Women and Silence and Shame
author: Ronna J. Detrick MDiv
description: This book, though "only"one essay and just over 20 pages in length, is far bigger. It has taken a lot - time, courage, perseverance, emotion - to get this story out of myself and into my world.<br /><br />Throwing Stonesweaves my contemporary experiencewith an ancient, sacred one. It speaks clearly and powerfully, even painfully,to the silencing and shame that too many women have known - and know still. More, it acknowledges the beauty and power of a woman's lived experience which, when seen, heard, and honored is impossible to ignore.<br /><br />There was a part of me that felt it was too much to publish, too much to make it a physical book, too much, period. But to NOTmake it available would perpetuate the very reality of whichthis story tells, of which my story tells. And that was not acceptable to me.<br /><br />It is my deepest hope thatThrowing Stones will resonate with every woman (and man) who reads it, that it will generously and honestly reveal painful themes and realities that yet remain, that it will invite conversation, that it will compel change.<br /><br />I would encourage you to buy more than one copy. Not for my sake, but forother women (and men) you know - and those you do not. Leave a copy in a coffee shop, a corporate lobby, your doctor's office, the church foyer, any and every place in which women find themselves, where womeneverfeelsilenced and shamed.<br /><br />It is only in naming what is true - no matter how hard - that we can hope for change.<br /><br />May we boldly and endlessly usher the truth of our stories and the beauty of our voicesinto the world.
zlib_text: Ciana Stone
  The Whisperers:  Book One
  Staking a Claim
  Copyright 2013, Ciana Stone
  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, businesses,
  places, events and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are
  used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or
  locales, is entirely coincidental.
  Copyright © 2013 Ciana Stone
  All rights reserved.
  
  Prologue
  A dry, dust-filled wind kicked up, blowing the woman’s skirt to twist
  around her legs, revealing dark bruises and welts. Her body trembled as the
  hangman looped the noose around her neck and fear gleamed in her eyes.
  Her skin was pale, her body trembling. Yet when she spoke, her voice was
  surprisingly strong. “I curse you and all the men who follow in your line.
  Your whispers shall be your glory and your downfall until recompense is
  made for the sin you commit against me and mine.”
  Then the hangman jerked the lever, releasing the trap in the floor.
  The woman’s eyes widened and he