Fireball Lily
offers a vivid, firsthand account of Christa-Maria Beardsley’s wide-ranging global travels, an endeavor she pursued energetically for a full fifteen years after her retirement from academia. From the Buddhist monasteries of Thailand and Japan and the imposing grandeur of Victoria, Niagara, and Iguazú Falls to the moai of Easter Island, the North Pole’s otherworldly beauty, and the stark poverty of Hong Kong’s fishing communities, Ms. Beardsley’s destinations elicit her fascination with the varied expressions of both nature and human culture. Informed by a rich personal history and an enduring concern for human suffering, the author’s keenly appreciative eye takes in the full range of socioeconomic conditions – from the tragic to the unimaginably luxurious – and the virtually endless quirks of human personality. Indeed, at the heart of the author’s travelogue are the people she meets along the way, a cast of characters she treats with her hallmark blend of curiosity, humor, and moral discernment.