HeartPrint
Unlock the Wisdom of You
Modeling intentional healing and personal growth, HeartPrint is an engaging allegorical novel with self-improvement tips embedded in its story.
In Meg Tuohey’s therapeutic allegorical novel HeartPrint, a woman spends her lifetime working toward her authentic sense of self.
Ellie has a traumatic start, making her evolution from a wounded child to a woman living in alignment with her true nature a complicated one. In her childhood, she contends with her mother’s emotional unavailability, her father’s betrayal, and the absence of attunement. The resultant wounds resurface across her subsequent decades, albeit in different forms. In middle age, Ellie struggles with her son Chase’s classroom outbursts, and the narrative loops back to her own childhood to reveal how her mother’s dismissive responses created a template for emotional neglect.
Through her failed relationships, parenting struggles, and the gradual dismantling of her protective but limiting patterns, Ellie learns to access her inner guide, who helps her navigate her pain and grow. Snippets from her story intertwine with the reflections of Elizabeth, the wiser version of herself. Also appearing are direct instructions to readers that complement the book’s claims that unprocessed experiences lead to entrenched patterns.
Indeed, the book is part narrative, part therapeutic guide, and part workbook. Its core concepts emerge in the process of its story, including the concepts of the Wise Woman; the HeartPrint; and the Shadow Sisters, which represent the defensive parts of one’s psyche. Also introduced are the spatial metaphors of the Basement, Landing, and Attic, representing Ellie’s disparate emotional states; distinctions are also made between reactive and deliberate thinking. However, the book is quite slow-moving to accommodate its various parts. While its early chapters are critical to establishing Ellie’s lasting pains, these issues remain unresolved for a long stretch of the text.
Indeed, Ellie’s growth is a recursive and frustrating process, and her movements toward ultimate transformation are slow. Further, her story is often interrupted by Elizabeth’s interjections. Elizabeth appears at crisis points to guide Ellie toward clarity, and this device is a somewhat contrived vehicle for Ellie’s growth—even though Elizabeth, instead of outright solving Ellie’s problems, merely asks questions that create the space for her self-discovery. Ellie’s immediate experiences are made to flow into Elizabeth’s perspective; this gives way to direct instructions to the audience. Further, Elizabeth’s absence in certain chapters is used to demonstrate Ellie’s internalization of her wisdom.
The prose is conversational and works overtime to ground abstract concepts in physical reality. Ellie’s emotional states are explored in spatial terms: The Basement of Shadows holds dusty boxes labeled “Dad” and “Mom,” the Cozy Landing hosts a teapot and a comfortable couch, and the Beautiful Attic is flooded with transcendent light. However, the book becomes quite thick with such metaphorical signposts, such as “browser tabs” representing unprocessed experiences and a “sloshing coffee cup” illustrating how stress overflows onto relationships. Insights into how patterns form and shift are proffered in the course of Ellie’s gradual transformation, and late references to her growth as a model for her granddaughter, Viv, to follow widen the book’s scope into family healing territory.
Part allegorical novel, part self-help book, HeartPrint models substantive personal growth techniques via its story of a woman’s long process of self-transformation.
Reviewed by
John M. Murray
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
