Author Talk - Tim Flood presents: The Flower of Canaan

Tim Flood’s first thought was to tell his mother’s difficult story of abuse in Washington State in the early 1940s. Instead, he chose to write a novel, loosely based on his mother’s experience but set far away in the Middle East and long ago in the 13th c. BCE. Then he saw the deep beliefs behind underlying the way his mother was treated. He calls those beliefs "sacred cows and golden calves," the outmoded ways of thinking that plague humanity in any era, including today.

The Flower of Canaan became a story of a woman’s abuse and her courageous defiance. Writes one reviewer, the novel is “… an unforgettable portrait of a woman who refuses to let the worst moments of her life define her.”

Tim will share his own emotional journey and challenges as a male writer trying to give voice to a woman’s struggles. He will also talk about the imperative to shake off still-powerful primitive beliefs about women and to evolve men’s ways of thinking about and relating to women.