“Mariam Stephens’ Safe Passage Notebooks shows us how love creates safety in a war-besieged land and how dedication preserves peace when nothing else is certain. Whether through the eyes of an Irish child, both innocent and acquainted with “troubles,” or through the eyes of a true “saboteur,” a citizen who keeps neighborhood peace in an arena of war, Notebooks takes you there with an immediacy and poignancy you will carry long after turning the last page.” --Vilma Ginzberg, poet, memoirist, Healdsburg Literary Laureate 2008/2009
"When the late Frank McCourt died, I mourned, 'Where will we ever find a voice like his again?' Fortunately, having discovered Safe Passage Notebooks and Mariam Stephens, I have my answer. Here we have the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of Belfast in the 40's and 50's. Here we luxuriate in that magnum mysterium, the Irish. At times I laughed so hard I cried. At other times I simply cried. For here too is Northern Ireland in the time of the Troubles. We watch through Mariam's eyes as Mother Teresa of Calcutta addresses the peace workers of Corrymeela, Mariam among them. We also experience the painful work of reconciliation undone by a moment's act of violence. All in all, this is a wonderful memoir, full of love, loss, hope, and humor, bigger-than-life figures, and always, always, the voice and spirit of Ireland." --Reynold Feldman, Ph.D., Executive Director, Wisdom Factors International "Her new work, HEALINGS, conveys its message in brief and intense prose. Mariam dedicates it to those among her 'beloved family, ancestors and the land that gave me life.' She explores the healing love that suffused and sustained her through trials and testing times. Her stories of her Granny, her father and friends have the distilled and concentrated familial emotions, the love, trust, magic and natural storytelling that usually crackle around good Irish stories." -- Bo Simons, Healdsburg Public Library
“A combination of prose poetry and poetic prose in Mariam Stephens’ Safe Passage Notebooks brings alive the words Ireland and the Irish and helps us appreciate the term The Troubles. Mariam Stephens worked with a leading peace and reconciliation organization in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. That experience combined with her lifelong work as a psychotherapist and her natural talent for poetic prose, brings us face to face with our own sense of reconciliation with hatred and anger.” -- Chester Aaron, author of About Us
"Mariam Stephens brings a lifetime of rich experience to “Safe Passage Notebooks.” From her native Belfast to London, Indonesia, and northern California, Mariam has lived deeply and observed keenly. As mother, psychotherapist, peace activist and writer, she has borne witness to a fractured world, while always honoring a fierce commitment to bring it love and healing. This book is the marvelous result. Mariam’s stories of childhood, travels, peace activism and self-discovery -- told in crystal clear, deeply felt prose -- will enthrall the reader. So much more than a book, Mariam’s 'Notebooks' is a life between two covers, to be read and cherished." -- David Beckman, poet, playwright, novelist