CHRYSALIS: a tribal tale of ritual, grief, and transformation. It is a chaotic, dangerous, messy, and often funny story of a human who dispenses with the life imposed on him in childhood, and creates a new one of his own choice.
On the day Apollo 11 launches, four-year old Spencer Aubrey’s family is in a plane crash deep in the Canadian wilderness. Himself, his mother and their Australian Shepherd, Daisy survive. His father, an immature and irresponsible drunk, does not. By October Spencer and his mother have walked out of the wilderness, their survival depending greatly on Daisy. Spencer grows up forgetting this amazing tribal bond, forgetting he ever had a dog.
For those few months they work together as a three-member tribe in the wilderness, but before the ordeal ends, Daisy is lost. Back in civilization, Rhea’s grief and guilt are so great she concocts a story excluding Daisy, making her dead husband a hero, and her son too young to remember. Spencer grows up making himself forget this amazing tribal bond, forgetting he ever had a dog.
Spencer works hard all his life to be a perfect son and husband. He becomes a decorated Air Force fighter pilot and later a senior airline captain. The only imperfection he notices is an inexplicable distance from his two children and a deep sadness. On the 36th anniversary of the plane crash and nearing his fortieth birthday, a powerful and mysterious impulse drives him to pull down his life in one mad act.
Within this destruction Spencer embarks on an adventure facing new dangers while at the mercy of instincts he thought long dead. He begins to rebuild a life that has little resemblance to his old one. Operating outside the restrictions of conventional expectations and even the law, he puts his very survival is at stake. If he succeeds he could not only have a new life and a new relationship with his family, but perhaps a new way for all people to live.
Praise for Chrysalis
Just finished chap 7, that conversation Alrick has with Spencer was powerful. I took a lot out of that for myself. Never got until right now how “what you see coming in your future is what gives how you feel now”. Wow, good stuff.
Well, I couldn’t stop myself and I finished the book tonight. I really loved it. Very satisfying ending, too, everything came together. Thanks for that, I’m a sucker for a happy ending.
I got a lot out of reading this book at a time in my life when I’m questioning everything. It was great to see the principles and distinctions I’ve been learning put to work in a very accessible way by characters I could readily identify with. So I’m ready for the sequel…let me know.
Matt Mercier, owner: Business Performance Management Northwest
