Praise for Hummingbird:
“In this powerful and timely memoir Raab offers poignant and thoughtful insights to contemplate and reflect upon to help heal intergenerational trauma. Raab rightly reminds us that our ancestors live on in us, and we are invited to call on them anytime we need help navigating life’s challenges.”
~SONIA CHOQUETTE, New York Times bestselling author of The Answer is Simple and Ask Your Guides
“Diana Raab knows the terrain of the human heart. She writes candidly looking across five generations offering an unflinching reflection on mortality and mystery. In addition to her own healing, she invites readers to wake up to uncertainties and synchronicities. To reflect upon their own life’s journeys and to use writing and journaling to navigate a pathway for healing through transitions and crossroads. This memoir is an exhale and a deep breath. A rich reserve, for herself, and for future generations to be nourished.”
~Terra Trevor, author of We Who Walk the Seven Ways
“Hummingbird is a meditative and nourishing memoir written with lyricism and chiseled language that marries Raab’s inner and outer worlds. With disarming honesty, Raab slows down our jittery minds and shares the intimacies of experiencing trauma and healing self-care in a way that they feel as normal as sleeping and eating. Her voice of personal truth provide a safety net for the reader to explore their own path to hope.”
~Tristine Rainer, author of Your Life as Story, and The New Diary
“Hummingbird is not only a poignant spiritual memoir, it’s an invitation. Raab is accessible and authentic…She opens hearts and deftly offers insightful prompts, sweetly encouraging the reader’s collaboration.”
~Marilyn Kapp, author of Love is Greater than Pain
“Diana Raab’s Hummingbird is far more than a memoir, it is a creative collage that offers hope, guidance, and inspiration for those willing to follow her on an inner journey to the wisdom of experience and ancestral trauma with an added touch of guidance for anyone looking to process their own life’s transformations.”
~Matthew J. Pallamary, author of Spirit Matters and Picaflor
“Like the tiny bird with the amazing heart who is her spirit guide, Diana Raab encourages us in Hummingbird to stop, wait, watch, and remember, mining the wisdom of the past, looking to the future, yet all the while enjoying the sweetness life has to offer in the current moment.”
~ Darlyn Finch Kuhn, author of Red Wax Rose, Three Houses, and Sewing Holes
“What a beautiful memoir, with so many revelations of the healing journey, love the prompts in each chapter. This book will take you on a journey then give you an opportunity to do your own self-reflection. Beautiful work.”
~Christine Corrigan Mendez, M.Ed., LPC NCC
“Raab points out we receive many messages if we are aware of and in tune with our feelings and thoughts. If she can do this, obviously others are able to as well. The hummingbird is a recurring “character” who brings joy, guidance, and direction to her life. Clues to receiving messages are included for those who may wish to follow a similar path. This book imparts wisdom and encouragement for responding to our inner voices. This is almost a guidebook to help us live life to the fullest. Memorable episodes will have the readers thinking about the book in the future and see life with a new perspective. Refreshing and hopeful!”
~Carolyn Wilhelm, Midwest Book Review
“In tender and graceful prose, Diana Raab’s memoir, Hummingbird, examines the experiences that have shaped her, however painful they may be. Her personal stories of hope and loss, illness and joy, love and neglect, invite us to reflect on our own ancestral influences and their role in shaping who we are today. Iridescent, Hummingbird dips, dives, and hovers. A beautiful, rewarding read.”
~Cati Porter, author of small mammals
“In her eloquent and soul-searching Hummingbird, Diana Raab holds a mirror up to her own life, chronicling pain and renewal, while offering readers a way in, creatively, to take stock of their own. With its sweeping subtitle, ‘Messages from My Ancestors,’ this book is both a heartfelt memoir of several generations, and a catalyst for ‘the spiritual practice’ of writing as ‘a way of healing.'”
~Roy Hoffman, author of The Promise of the Pelican, a novel
“Diana Raab is always at her best when she inspires her readers with the up close and spiritual. Her new memoir, ‘Messages from My Ancestors’ does exactly that, but her writing prompts make it a practical must-read for any author in need of a creative nudge. The memories of storytelling ancestors are sure to be a bonus that will soon leave this book dog-eared from the rereading of it.”
~Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of Imperfect Echoes, a Writers Digest-honored book of poetry
“In Hummingbird: Messages from My Ancestors, Raab focuses on how examining the lives of those who’ve most influenced us can offer perspective, assist us through challenges, reinforce gratitude, bring joy and comfort, and help us live life more fully. Through telling stories and offering writing prompts, Raab provides a valuable roadmap for understanding our own lives by connecting to the past.”
~Nancy McCabe, author of Vaulting through Time, Can This Marriage Be Saved? A Memoir
“Award-winning writer Diana Raab in her newest book, Hummingbird, offers stories from her family experience, expanding and developing them into pragmatic steps that others can follow.
In the first chapter of her soul-searching recollections, readers learn that Regina, Raab’s maternal grandmother and a significant and much-loved contact and caregiver, committed suicide. The author depicts this childhood drama in sharp detail, being with Regina when she, only ten years old, discovered the woman’s unconscious form. She had to phone her mother with the news that, ‘I think something’s wrong with Grandma!’ and wait in mental torment for help to come, believing Regina might still be alive. She watched as an ambulance took her grandmother away, accompanied by police and firemen. She would learn that her grandmother died from an overdose of tranquilizers. This highly traumatic event stoked in Raab the need to begin writing – her self-discovered way of dealing with the grief and confusion that arose from loss. She actually conducted ‘after-school journaling classes with other neighborhood children,’ presaging her passion for what would later become her career. Another aspect of this intuitive sense came when, as an adult, she consulted mystics and psychics to explore a deeper understanding of many of her familial connections and disconnects; one such deviner described Regina as ‘a seer,’ a truth that Raab readily grasped.
With her family background of German/Austrian immigration, Raab would uncover many secrets embedded in that ancestry, finding reason to question her treatment by some of her closest kin. Dealing with these sometimes painful revelations impelled her even farther along the path to designing art-based, often poetic, journal-centered methods for others to employ as they remember and reconcile past triumphs and mistakes.
Raab has taken upon herself the admirable task of helping and healing, mainly through her many books treating the crucial subjects that arose out of her own poignant, often painful experiences, both as a child and as a mother. This latest work again fulfills that chosen purpose, setting forth for readers at the end of each chapter a series of carefully composed questions that delve into such crucial issues as Holocaust history, long-term illness, COVID concerns, and the need for ‘a safe haven.’ Raab readily expresses her heartfelt hope that her grandchildren will want to explore their heritage and will approach her with ‘questions about my life before they were born.’ Her writing has the power to endow readers with this same spiritual ambition as they read and ponder her artistry and her deftly defined wishes for them and for herself: health, happiness, and a graciously given legacy.
Quill says: ‘Readers will be enchanted by Diana Raab’s Hummingbird, a mentoring memoir that offers a multitude of recollections and suggestions for absorbing family dynamics, forgiving without forgetting, and growing spiritually from the exercises she has practiced and now shares.'”
~ Feathered Quill
“In her memoir Hummingbird: Messages from My Ancestors, Diana Raab opens up on her life experiences, from childhood solitude to her battles with cancer, and the role of writing as a tool for healing. She shares her family dynamics, particularly the influence of her maternal grandmother’s suicide, and ancestral connections. Raab discusses her coping mechanisms, including journaling passed down through generations, and speaks on the importance of understanding and processing trauma. Raab also covers themes of intuition and the impact of childhood neglect on adult relationships, the healing power of storytelling, and the importance of passing down ancestral wisdom. Raab passionately advocates for introspection, consciousness, and living with purpose, integrating ancillary sources like Tony Nader’s book on consciousness. Through prompts, Raab encourages readers to look at their own family histories and aspirations, offering a hopeful outlook on life and the enduring legacy of shared stories and wisdom.
Hummingbird by Diana Raab beautifully illustrates the interconnectedness between generations, and how the past influences the present and shapes individual identity. Through reading her grandmother’s journal, Raab shares these moments. The standout to me is the descriptions of Raab’s grandmother during the cholera pandemic and the heartbreaking moments she experiences while searching for someone she loves. This resilience is passed down generationally through familial bonds and is one of many ways in which Raab proves this. Another component that I really liked is Raab showing us what the integration of holistic health practices alongside conventional medical treatment looks like. In response to cancer, she adopts a vegan diet and complementary therapies like curcumin supplementation, all inspired by medical literature and personal and professional recommendations. The writing is exceptional and I loved the thoughtful prompts, which are perfect for journaling. Overall, this is a well-written and accessible self-help memoir that allows for comfortable implementation into everyday life, and I think others who are looking for something that feels more like a conversation than a directive will agree. Very highly recommended.”
~ Asher Syed, Reader’s Favorite
