"Spirit Speaks. Are You Listening?" follows the remarkable spiritual journey of a woman who knew from early childhood that she had a wise and true voice within that spoke to her from realms beyond. Valerie Croce Stiehl outlines a life path every one of us can take if we long for inner peace and fulfillment. Hers are words to live by, road signs that can be followed readily no matter where you are on your path. She tells of her early years as the suddenly single mother of five children; years of deprivation as she worked and went to school and struggled to put food on the table for her family; a later executive career in Manhattan; a transforming Near Death Experience as a result of a devastating car crash; and a decade living on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. Those experiences forged a woman of towering strength, love and purpose-guided surely by Spirit. It has been said of her by a spiritual teacher that she lives in a state of grace. This book confirms the fact. ""Enlightened, deeply spiritual welcome, 'Spirit Speaks' fulfills the seeker's quest for truths both mundane and ethereal."" Swami Bhimasen - Sivanda Ashram, India ""Valerie shares with us connedtedness to the universe, not unlike Nicholas Black Elk, who, like her, left behind a comfortable world to seek truth and beauty in the natural spiritualism of Native American culture."" Don Wigal, Ph.D. - Experiences in Faith (1970)

"Spirit Speaks. Are You Listening?" follows the remarkable spiritual journey of a woman who knew from early childhood that she had a wise and true voice within that spoke to her from realms beyond. Valerie Croce Stiehl outlines a life path every one of us can take if we long for inner peace and fulfillment. Hers are words to live by, road signs that can be followed readily no matter where you are on your path. She tells of her early years as the suddenly single mother of five children; years of deprivation as she worked and went to school and struggled to put food on the table for her family; a later executive career in Manhattan; a transforming Near Death Experience as a result of a devastating car crash; and a decade living on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. Those experiences forged a woman of towering strength, love and purpose-guided surely by Spirit. It has been said of her by a spiritual teacher that she lives in a state of grace. This book confirms the fact. ""Enlightened, deeply spiritual welcome, 'Spirit Speaks' fulfills the seeker's quest for truths both mundane and ethereal."" Swami Bhimasen - Sivanda Ashram, India ""Valerie shares with us connedtedness to the universe, not unlike Nicholas Black Elk, who, like her, left behind a comfortable world to seek truth and beauty in the natural spiritualism of Native American culture."" Don Wigal, Ph.D. - Experiences in Faith (1970)

In the mid-1930s, author Vera Haldy-Regier's father, a minor, recalcitrant diplomat in Hitler's government, is banished to a post in Vladivostok, Russia, and later to the former German lease territory of Tsingtao, China.

While openly critical of the Nazis, he nonetheless remains employed by the German Foreign Office until the end of the war. Together with his wife, he is instrumental in obtaining food and money for the small community of Jewish refugees that fled to Tsingtao, and endures several threats to his life from Nazi officials. After Hitler's defeat, the family loses nearly all its possessions to the Chinese revolutionaries before escaping to the West on an American troop transporter.

Their early years in America are filled with severe financial need. But in the midst of hardship, there are gifts of love, support, and friendship that became beacons of enduring hope. Haldy-Regier's poignant memoir traces the family's path from Germany to America via Italy, Turkey, Russia, Japan, China and Cuba. It carries triumphant messages of love, forgiveness, and gratitude for gifts gathered amidst the ruins of war and the pain and injustice of intolerance.

""As one who knew the author's family in China, I was deeply moved by this beautifully written, honest account of the triumph of a young girl's spirit in her ever-tilting world."
" -Eva Pulverman Jellin