Emmie Returns: A Memoir of Two Lifetimes

Emmie Returns is a memoir that documents one woman’s struggle towards emancipation from the bonds of patriarchal society. As a work of reincarnation, this book demonstrates how it can take more than one lifetime to achieve that freedom.

Emmie Returns is based on a series of letters written in 1897 by the author’s grandaunt, Emmie Woodburn, during a visit to Limerick Ireland. Writing to her family in Canada, Emmie happily describes the details of life amongst her wealthy relatives. However, she soon becomes distressed when she discovers a family conspiracy to marry her off. Thinking there must be something wrong with her, Emmie becomes trapped in a conflict between her personal desire to remain single and family pressure to select a mate. Emmie fails to speak up for her well-being and never fulfills her desire to return to her home in Canada.

The letters are eventually passed down to the author, Liz Woodburn, who was born in 1948 on Emmie’s birthday. Thanks to the Women’s Movement as well as ‘New Age’ trends in thought, Liz grows up with permission to question outmoded power structures and so-called authorities. Liz relies on “Internal Authority” in the form of feminine energies when she concludes that she is Emmie’s reincarnation.

Emmie Returns documents how the author found faith in herself by restoring a sense of inner goodness. She brings power to her voice through publishing Emmie’s story, thus demonstrating that it is never too late to triumph over adversity.