Ariadne's Hymnal

Award-winning novelist and playwright Denise Chavez describes ARIADNE'S HYMNAL as "an adventure from page one." The story revolves around a group of people in search of a reverend who walks out of town one day after delivering a funeral oration. The symbolism of this quest is so overt as to be almost fabulistic, as these four people go about trying to find this representative of faith in four quite different ways. One woman relies on intuition, one fellow attempts to communicate psychically with the missing reverend, the detective involved utilizes conventional forms of data gathering and pursuit, and the last member of the group has no idea why he's part of this quest. In the midst of the search it is discovered that its object, the reverend, is as elusive to define as he is to track down. Ms. Chavez described the style of the book as deceptively simple above a complex and mysterious narrative. The title refers to the myth of Ariadne and Theseus, wherein she gives him a ball of twine--before he descends into the labyrinth to do battle with the minotaur--so that he may find his way out again. The twine represents the concept of faith: two points unseen by one another connected by a particular tension--the filament running through darkness.