Introducing the debut novel inspired by true events... Reaching Out from the Inside: a Novel by Michele Lewis Book Summary: High school teacher Mare Lumen has always strived to live a good, honorable life. But when her brother is accused of some terrible crimes, her family's name is splashed across the headlines of every newspaper and newscast in her home state of Maine. The statewide scandal launches Mare on a difficult and life-changing journey that results in a deep experience of compassion, surrender, and healing. Is it possible for someone we love to cause so much suffering? Can a good person do "bad" things? Both Mare and her marriage are tested. Mare knows she's not the first to walk this road of pain, and, as she teaches her students about literature and mythology, she recognizes the mythic crossroads in her own life. She must choose… Will she expand and grow, or shut down and harden under the pressure? As she learns to integrate the lessons, she awakens to a broader spiritual reality, where she receives guidance from a surprising source: her dreams. With the help of her visionary experiences and her connection to nature, Mare enters an intense phase of inner transformation where she begins to understand the web of connection that unites all. Click to order the paperback from Amazon Listen to (and download) an interview about Michelle Click Here "Michele is a gifted and creative spirit…I have been impressed by [her] deep knowledge of the worlds of myth and literature, her vivid imagination, her storytelling and writing abilities, and her personal courage and determination. She has a wonderful ability to relate the incidents of everyday life to the bigger stories in which our kind have always found guidance and healing."           --Robert Moss, author of Conscious Dreaming Excerpt: "I know. I know it's very hard, Mare." "You have no idea, Pete. Seth is a male, sure, but he is the person in the world most like me. Cassie and I are more like him genetically than anyone else. And with regard to environment, we were all raised in the same home with the same parents, the same basic guidance, the same upbringing, and mostly the same kinds of experiences... I am only one year older than Seth. We spent a lot of time together growing up… throwing balls over the roof to each other, racing each other on our bikes, cracking up at each other during dinner. Sometimes when I laugh, it sounds like Seth's laugh. When I look in the mirror, sometimes I see Seth's expressions. I notice mannerisms of mine that are so like his." She paused painfully and rolled away from him. "How can someone like me-do stuff like that?"