“Peace is always within you. You need only turn, as a leaf turns in the wind, to find it, to dwell in it.”   Derwydd

It is 1967. In the Midwestern university city where Lyra lives, the culture is still predominantly the conservative, conformist culture of the fifties. But on the coasts, changes are stirring—in consciousness, gender roles, spirituality—and the ripples of these changes are beginning to touch the Heartland.

Lyra has given up the promise of a brilliant dance career for marriage and children. Heartbroken and crazed over the deterioration of her marriage and the loss of her art, tormented by inner voices, she runs from her house on an evening in May to a nearby wood. There she finds a strange, luminous path that leads her to a glade deep in the heart of the wood, where a magnificent oak tree stands in the curve of a stream. The oak tree speaks to her with love, and under its boughs she finds peace.

After her psychiatrist recommends a temporary separation, her husband leaves for the summer to do research at Harvard. Peggy, a warm-hearted, young graduate student, moves in to help with the children, giving Lyra more freedom than she’s had since her first child was born.

As Lyra unravels the mystery of the oak tree in the months that follow, profound changes transform her inner and outer worlds, bringing her soaring joy and devastating grief.

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Read an excerpt from Chapter One 

Words Of Praise

Leaves in Her Hair by Heather Starsong is an exciting multi-level story that both disturbs and reveals as classics often do. Set in 1967, its interwoven themes continue today. I couldn’t put down this easily read book until its very last well-chosen word. Scenes are so well painted that I continue to see them long afterwards. I suspect lively discussions in book clubs, and maybe even therapy sessions, after this one. Don’t miss it.
~ Jean Lord

I really resonated with the wonderful storyline of a woman who’s coming into consciousness and discovering her source of power. I highly recommend this book for women, particularly those who have suffered because of the criticisms and doubts of others and themselves and who want to have a new story to inspire, heal and empower themselves.
~ Christine Gust

The characters came to life for me and I wanted to see how it turned out for them. Much of the writing is exquisite. If you like fantasy based in Druidic lore, read it. I tried to ration reading it but couldn’t resist the story.
~ Rebekah West

Leaves in Her Hair is a heroine’s tale, a la 1960’s white middle class America, with some delicious imagery and symbolism. The intimate twists of the heroine’s inner life resonate with the mythology of the times, replete with peppered scents of shadowed relational ruptures. I wanted to know what happened next, rooted for the heroine and felt satisfied by the journey’s gifts.
~ Gretchen Stecher, Somatic Therapist

Heather Starsong’s Leaves in Her Hair is the poignant story of Lyra, whose journey back and forth between the conflicts of daily life and the archetypal richness of nature creates profound inner transformation. From the stunning cover to the clarity of the prose, it touches the heart.
~ Gail D. Storey

I have finished reading the exquisitely and profoundly beautiful Leaves in Her Hair. There is nothing strange to me about the deeply spiritual metaphor that guided the reawakening of Lyra body, soul, and spirit. I am so glad to have read this.
~ Sylvia Margolin,

Heather has crafted a delightful book, part fantasy, part love story, and part exploration of the human psyche. Leaves in Her Hair excels in all three areas.
~ Simon Barrett, Book Reviewer

Leaves in Her Hair is a beautifully written story of a young woman’s dance into her true being.  Rich in imagery, sensual images and wisdom, I found this book deeply touching. Heather Starsong weaves fantasy so expertly that the extraordinary becomes believable.
~ Shelley Tanenbaum