jan groft
jan groft
jan groft
Praise for Joy Chest
“...a rounded and highly encouraging inducement for readers to pay attention to truly important things...with contagiously happy storytelling."
“Every so often you encounter a book that feels different from anything else. This is that book. Groft refreshingly weaves together a patchwork of deeply rich and personal stories about objects that bring joyful memories - while being more present than nostalgic. With each story, I felt like I made a new friend, reminded of the common threads of love that bind us all. Exactly what our world needs! Read it - you'll want to create your own joy chest and put this book in it!
“The Joy Chest is a heartwarming story about time travel; how treasured artifacts from the past - a letter, a card, a photograph, even a stuffed animal - take you back to a time and place where your most important memories live. I loved the book, it's a great reminder how the small, simple things are often the most important and why we need to keep them in a safe place for our journey through life. The Joy Chest is a joy to read."
“Jan Groft has written a joyful gem of a book. She gently weaves together compelling stories about simple yet enduring moments of joy, connection, and deep meaning. I wasn't just moved to tears, I was also moved to action and can't wait to create my own joy chest."
Praise for Artichokes & City Chicken
“This is what I call a comfy book: good storytelling, a tone that welcomes in a quiet, compelling way; words that are honest but in a profound, not a pushy, way. I feel embraced by Jan's story and helped by her insight, as though, in reading her chapters, I've spent time with a spiritual companion on a common journey."
“Jan Groft writes with the assurance of one who has known what it is to suffer loss and abide in the darkness. In Artichokes & City Chicken, she takes the reader one step beyond into the territory of grace and mercy."
“Artichokes & City Chicken reads like a mid-life “coming of age" story, except instead of recounting the fading of adolescent angst as girl becomes woman, Groft writes of shedding her self-protective armor to embrace life the way it should be lived, with a wide-open heart and her internal chatter stilled to the point that she can almost hear God breathing."
download the Green Life Blue Water blog review.pdf
Praise for As We Grieve
“Jan Groft ... has written a winner. These are true stories of heavy hearts, which somehow, through faith, find a way to keep beating with joy."
“Reading As We Grieve is like having a support group on paper."
“With articulate candor... sensitivity, grace... and deep spiritual wisdom ...As We Grieve is a tender treasure for the journey of life."
“As We Grieve is a book of marvelous depth, as well as opportunities for people to approach grieving from different points of view. It is about listening to a still small voice, experiencing God's presence and encountering incredible grace."
“Touching, painfully honest and soul-cleansing, As We Grieve opens doors of healing, helping to find meaning in life's significant losses. I will keep it nearby as I journey on."
“Jan Groft's book reflects what I so often hear in grief groups that I facilitate: the moments of grace within the experience of loss can bring meaning and hope to the mourner. Groft's anecdotal presentation is both lively and compassionate, and I look forward to using As We Grieve in future groups."
download the Green Life Blue Water blog review.pdf
Praise for Riding the Dog
“Jan Groft speaks through every page of this warm-hearted and moving memoir with candor, humility and an abundance of grace. Her journey with her family moves not toward a death so much as toward a deeper embrace of life, both immediate and everlasting. Full of wonder and hard-won wisdom about letting go and letting faith guide the process, Groft's story is, above all, about the gifts of love in its many forms."
“Riding the Dog is a beautiful, loving and lovely story, filled with generous detail and heartfelt emotion. Jan Groft writes clearly, simply, and with wholehearted intelligence, resulting in this stunning tribute to father, family, and faith."
“Riding the Dog is more than a beautiful book. It is a gift and a life companion. Its pages are incandescent and rock-ribbed with wisdom, compassion, and faith. Jan Groft is a writer of extraordinary courage and grace. Her work floods the darkest corners of human existence with a pure and sanctifying light. In its unflinching look at dying, Riding the Dog teaches us how to live."
“...beautifully detailed....a story about family and love more than it is a story about dying. There are wonderful interactions between father and daughter ... all written with such simplicity and faith."
“Not only does Jan Groft eloquently describe the pain involved in the loss of a loved one, but she also gives praise to life... it is her touching memories and honest emotions during her father's last days that make this book so memorable."
“Every page of Riding the Dog radiates with eloquent anguish and the tender precision of one who has not only been harrowed by her father's downward spiral into death but who possesses the tenacious spirit and literary gifts to be able to convert this chaos into meaning, and to see the spiral, ultimately, climbing upward."
“A loving daughter's tribute to both her earthly and heavenly fathers. Jan Groft is a fine writer who stirs the heart and spirit, reminding us that love does not end with death."