Deep Breathing

By: G. Davies Jandrey

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

An Angel of Mercy stalks the city and he’s coming for Abby Bannister... Abby Bannister, the CEO and founder Gimps Serving Gimps, is being interviewed for a spot on the local news. A major gimp herself, she is a champion for the rights and independence of all people faced with physical, mental and emotional challenges. Once aired, the interview draws the attention of three people. The first is her best friend, a gay gimp looking for love in all the wrong places. The second is Abby’s long-lost cousin, Fey. Homeless, she has an ax to grind and sees Abby as the perfect grindstone. The third is a self-declared angel of mercy who believes Abby is in need of his special services. As Abby whizzes around Tucson, Arizona in her supped-up electric wheelchair, she is oblivious to the grave danger she is in. “ ‘Deep Breathing’ is one of those books where you begin to feel the engaging pace and rapid flow of the story in the first few pages. It grabs you. And as you get to know the characters, you fall in love with them not despite their physical conditions, but to a large extent because of them. In addition to being drawn into the story, we have the pleasure of discovering little, life-enhancing snippets and ‘ahas’ that startle us with their depth in relationship to life, for every person. ‘For many, like Alfonso, the limitations weren't inherent in the challenges they were born with but in the lack of a vision that it could be any other way’ makes you sit up and reflect on your own life possibilities. Throughout the book, the author invites us to think outside our preconceived boundaries, not only about how we view and feel around wheel chaired people but also around our own values and fears. You would think that after an accident, you would grow in your ‘fearless’, and yet the heroine of this story loses her ‘fearless’. Remarkable and inspiring. And then there's the imagery and the succulent and luscious way in which the author marries words to give the newly coined phrase a moment of poetry. We love a book that keeps us coming back to read the next chapter, and the next, while also making us pause and say “what a beautiful way to say this.” Gayle Davies Jandrey paints with words. What a great read!” Barbara “BB” Peters, Boom Goddess Radio “Jandrey’s depiction of society’s marginalized continues to be sympathetic and informed. Her prose is increasingly nuanced. This reader, for one, would welcome more Abby & Co.” — Christine Wald-Hopkins, AZ Daily Star “ ‘The difference between a flower and a weed is perception,’ as Abby learns from the tag on her bag of Karma tea. The realities of handicap, loneliness, homelessness and betrayal are beautifully balanced between well-researched detail and perceptive points of view, all hauntingly told in a story as agile and gripping as a pole dancer caught between delight in her body and the need for cash. By turns scary, sad, glorious, wise and forgiving, 'Deep Breathing' offers wisdom to endure, mercy to change our point of view, and hope to believe in karma, God, or fate’s generosity. I’ll never look at a handicapped or homeless woman the same way after reading 'Deep Breathing.' This novel is both bleak and totally beautiful, from beginning to its wondrously satisfying end.” –Sheila Deeth, author of ‘Divide by Zero, Infinite Sums,’ and ‘Subtraction.’