Aliza Prero Herbst

Ring the Bell Twice Aliza Prero Herbst

Grace Connor is a thirty-three-year-old associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin who has decided to shed her life and start over in India. The daughter of a charismatic narcissist, she recognizes that her life has been guided by her entangled relationship with her father. Buying a one-way ticket to India, she chooses a radical departure from her job, marriage, and family to build a more authentic, healthier life. Grace spends her first eighteen months in India primarily alone. She slows her previously fast-paced life to a meditative rhythm with large doses of silence, making it possible for her to get in touch with her authentic self. Only when she is able to hear her own inner voice does she allow friendship and love into her life. In Mussoorie, teaching English to Tibetan Buddhist children, she finds comfort, but also old, unhealthy habits. Creating a balance between them, while dealing with great loss, intense relationships, and life or death decisions, make up Grace's search of self. Joining Grace is like peeling an onion; layer after confusing layer of life at its messiest and its most beautiful. The color and texture of India mix with Buddhist philosophy and complicated family relationships to create a tapestry at once familiar and exotic. We are all Grace. Ring the Bell Twice takes place in India and America between the years 1998 and 2019. It is a compelling search for personal authenticity in the East. It is informed by the belief that change is difficult but possible.