NOTHING BAD BETWEEN US | Marlena Fiol, PhD | BUY BOOK

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We are pleased to announce that renowned authors Marlena Fiol and Tom DeWolf will be partnering with Barbara’s Bookstore for an online discussion of Finding Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World. In this hour-long conversation, Marlena and Tom will explore the challenges of forgiving oneself, one’s family and those around us – and the healing that can result. Don’t miss your opportunity to join this timely conversation, as we close out what has been a divisive, conflict-ridden year for many, and move forward toward a more hopeful future together.

An Incredible True Story About Family, Love and Forgiveness

A Mennonite Missionary's Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness (True Story, Memoir, Conflict Resolution, Religious Society)

“This is one of the most moving and, ultimately, hopeful books I have ever read." —Jean M. Bartunek, PhD, professor of management and organization, Boston College and former president of the Academy of Management

After being publicly humiliated in front of her entire close-knit Mennonite community, Marlena Fiol didn't know how she would recover. Follow her journey from an abusive upbringing in Paraguay to escape, love, and loss in the United States and finally on to forgiveness and reconciliation.

Discover a story of healing and personal transformation. Marlena's childhood was full of contradictions. Her father was both a heroic doctor for people with leprosy and an abusive parent. Her Mennonite missionary community was both a devoted tribe and a controlling society. And Marlena longed to both be accepted in Paraguay and escape to somewhere new. In Nothing Bad Between Us, follow Marlena's journey as she takes control of her life and learns to be her authentic self, scars and imperfections included.

Uncover inner peace―and inner strength.  Nothing Bad Between Us is a story of brokenness and eventual redemption that taps into our collective yearning for healing and forgiveness. As you read Marlena's story, you will:

Learn how to forgive yourself and others without giving up your personal growth and self-confidence

Discover that transformation and redemption often exist even in the most broken parts of who you are

Find out how to stand in your power, knowing that vulnerability won't lead to your downfall, but to increasing courage, connection, and authenticity

Readers of memoirs about family, self-healing, and the strength of a woman like The Glass Castle, Love Warrior, and Leaving the Witness will be captivated by Nothing Bad Between Us.

Marlena Fiol, PhD, grew up on a leprosy station that her strict Mennonite father founded and ran in Paraguay, South America. Her new book Nothing Bad Between Us: A Mennonite Missionary’s Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness (Mango Publishing, 2020) is a heartwarming and often shocking tale of a religious father and his sinful daughter, as they gradually move toward forgiveness and healing. In her career as a consultant and professor of strategic management, Fiol guided her students and clients in coming to know both their current and possible selves. Over half of her 85 published articles and books relate to identity and identity change. Today, she combines her professional expertise in identity with her poignant personal experiences to speak with compassion and authority about complicated relationships and the healing power of forgiveness.

Tom DeWolf is an author, public speaker, trainer and workshop facilitator, and since 2013, has served as Director/Manager for Coming to the Table. He is the author of Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History, Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade, and The Little Book of Racial Healing. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States speaking and leading workshops and trainings at colleges, universities, conferences and other venues. He exposes hidden elements of history and shows how traumatic, unhealed wounds from the past continue to impact everyone today. Such wounds are expressed on campuses and elsewhere as racism, sexism, and other forms of intolerance, separation, and hierarchies of human value. With compassion and humor, Tom illuminates a path toward healing and a more hopeful future.

Finding Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World: Marlena Fiol and Tom DeWolf in Conversation