Parnassus Books is pleased to welcome Jedidiah Jenkins, in conversation with Barbara Jenkins, to celebrate his new book, Mother, Nature: A 5,000-Mile Journey to Discover If a Mother and Son Can Survive Their Differences.
This is a free event which will take place IN STORE on Monday, November 6th at 6:30pm Central Time. Please note: This event is full and registration has closed. To be placed on a wait list, please fill out the form below. You will be notified if a space becomes available. (Note: If for any reason you need to cancel your registration, please call the store at 615-953-2243 at least 24 hours before the event so your space can be provided to another guest.) Masks are strongly encouraged during this event.
Please note: This book officially releases Tuesday, November 7th, but we will have copies to sell early at the event!
About the Book
When his mother, Barbara, turns seventy, Jedidiah Jenkins is reminded of a sobering truth: Our parents won't live forever. For years, he and Barbara have talked about taking a trip together, just the two of them. They disagree about politics, about God, about the project of society--disagreements that hurt. But they love thrift stores, they love eating at diners, they love true crime, and they love each other. Jedidiah wants to step into Barbara's world and get to know her in a way that occasional visits haven't allowed.
They land on an idea: to retrace the thousands of miles Barbara trekked with Jedidiah's father, travel writer Peter Jenkins, as part of the Walk Across America book trilogy that became a sensation in the 1970s. Beginning in New Orleans, they set off for the Oregon coast, listening to podcasts about outlaws and cult leaders--the only media they can agree on--while reliving the journey that changed Barbara's life. Jedidiah discovers who Barbara was as a thirty-year-old writer walking across America and who she is now, as a parent who loves her son yet holds on to a version of faith that sees his sexuality as a sin.
Along the way, he peels back the layers of questions millions are asking today: How do we stay in relationship when it hurts? When do boundaries turn into separation? When do we stand up for ourselves, and when do we let it go?
Tender, smart, and profound, Mother, Nature is a story of a remarkable mother-son bond and a moving meditation on the complexities of love.
About the Author
Jedidiah Jenkins is the New York Times bestselling author of To Shake the Sleeping Self and Like Streams to the Ocean. A graduate of USC and Pepperdine University School of Law, Jenkins began his professional career with the nonprofit Invisible Children, where he helped orchestrate multinational campaigns to end the use of child soldiers in central Africa. His parents, Peter and Barbara Jenkins, are the authors of the bestselling A Walk Across America series. He is the executive editor of Wilderness magazine. Jenkins’s work has appeared in The Paris Review and Playboy, and he has been covered by National Geographic.
About Barbara Jenkins
Barbara Jenkins grew up in the wild beauty of the Ozarks with no running water and homemade clothes. The first in her family to go beyond an 8th grade education, she received her Master’s from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She shot to fame in 1976 with her then-husband for their ambitious walk across America. That journey became the inspiration for their New York Times bestseller The Walk West, selling over 12 million copies.
She has since published a number of other books, including The Road Unseen, a Gold Medallion Book Award winner. Her writing and entrepreneurship has been featured on Good Morning America, Reader’s Digest and more. Jenkins now travels the country, speaking at universities, conventions, and other events about her story. When she is not writing, speaking, or traveling, Jenkins loves spending time with her granddaughters, Josephine and Lyla. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
WAITLIST: Jedidiah Jenkins
