Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read. A life-changing event in 1997, started my journey into writing and eventually into my conversion to Judaism. Many years later, I’ve come to realize that there are grains of truth in every faith tradition and I search for those truths in my own life. Currently, I have four books in print, writing under the pen names of Brenda Ray (The Hebrew Midwives Trilogy) and B. K. Ricotta (Two of a Kind and A Love So Sweet). Two other novels (Book 1 and 2 of the Econfina Creek Series) are in the works.


I wrote

The Midwife's Heart: Hebrew Midwives Trilogy Book 2

By Brenda Ray,

Book cover of The Midwife's Heart: Hebrew Midwives Trilogy Book 2

What is my book about?

As Abraham's descendants prepare to cross into the Promised Land, led by Moses, Hannah, a disillusioned midwife will be tested…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Brenda Ricotta Why did I love this book?

Dr. Estes’ book is seminal. Using her knowledge of symbols, this Jungian psychologist and cantadora, teaches women lessons about how we live our lives via fables from around the world. A deeply spiritual book, Women Who Run with the Wolves, is not a quick read. It is one that must be savored, chewed upon, digested, and internalized. After decades, I still pull this guide to life from my bookshelf and find something new each time. I recommend this book to every woman, young and old. Decades after discovering it, it is still my “go-to” book for lessons in living in a woman’s world.

By Clarissa Pinkola Estés,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Women Who Run with the Wolves as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published three years before the print edition of Women Who Run With the Wolves made publishing history, this original audio edition quickly became an underground bestseller. For its insights into the inner life of women, it established Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes as one of the most important voices of our time in the fields of Jungian psychology, myth, and women's mysteries.

Drawing from her work as a psychoanalyst and cantadora ("keeper of the old stories"), Dr. Estes uses myths and folktales to illustrate how societies systematically strip away the feminine spirit. Through an exploration into the nature of the…


Book cover of Exodus: A Novel of Israel

Brenda Ricotta Why did I love this book?

Leon Uris is an accomplished researcher and expert in the history of the Holocaust and the Jewish people. Woven into a fictional story, this book explains clearly how the people of Israel came to inhabit the land of their forefathers after World War II. Anyone wanting a better understanding of the Middle East should read this story of present-day Israel’s birth.

By Leon Uris,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Exodus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Passionate summary of the inhuman treatment of the Jewish people in Europe, of the exodus in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to Palestine, and of the triumphant founding of the new Israel.”—The New York Times

Exodus is an international publishing phenomenon—the towering novel of the twentieth century's most dramatic geopolitical event.  Leon Uris magnificently portrays the birth of a new nation in the midst of enemies—the beginning of an earthshaking struggle for power.  Here is the tale that swept the world with its fury: the story of an American nurse, an Israeli freedom fighter caught up in a glorious, heartbreaking,…


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Book cover of Trans-Mongolian Express

Trans-Mongolian Express By David L. Robbins,

In the harrowing aftermath of Chornobyl's meltdown in 1986, the fate of Eastern Europe hangs by a thread.

From Beijing, American radiation scientist Lara, once a thorn in the Russian mob's side, is drawn back into the shadows of the Soviet Union on the Trans-Mongolian Express. She isn't alone. Anton,…

Book cover of Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind

Brenda Ricotta Why did I love this book?

This book was part of my women’s studies in nurse-midwifery school at the University of Florida. It affirmed what I already knew on a soul level about how women’s senses hold unique sub-strata. We “know” but have been unable to define the “why” over the centuries.  As an empath, this book resonated with me and helped me understand how my gift brought to the bedside when caring for women at the most primal moments of their lives, was innate. It taught me how to trust my instincts.

By Mary Field Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger , Jill Mattuck Tarule

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Women's Ways of Knowing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Despite the progress of the women's movement, many women still feel silenced in their families and schools. This moving and insightful bestseller, based on in-depth interviews with 135 women, explains why they feel this way. Updated with a new preface exploring how the authors' collaboration and research developed, this tenth anniversary edition addresses many of the questions that the authors have been asked repeatedly in the years since Women's Ways of Knowing was originally published.


Book cover of A Heart of Stillness: A Complete Guide to Learning the Art of Meditation

Brenda Ricotta Why did I love this book?

Rabbi Cooper, through easy-to-follow and deeply human instruction, guides you through a soul-changing journey in this book. His own journey leads the way for anyone who wants to understand how meditation can change your life and the world. He taught me so much about how to express my faith in daily living.  A must-read.

By Rabbi David A. Cooper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Heart of Stillness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A comprehensive guide to meditation for people of all faiths, from the best-selling author of God Is a Verb.

The only complete nonsectarian guide to meditation, A Heart of Stillness is a comprehensive guidebook to its basic principles and practices.

By showing the way to what mystics have experienced for thousands of years, David Cooper's accessible, clear advice provides invaluable guidance both for students already studying with a meditation teacher, and for those who want to develop a meditative practice on their own.

Drawing from the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions, Cooper teaches basic meditative principles and practices…


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Book cover of A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France

A Long Way from Iowa By Janet Hulstrand,

This memoir chronicles the lives of three generations of women with a passion for reading, writing, and travel. The story begins in 1992 in an unfinished attic in Brooklyn as the author reads a notebook written by her grandmother nearly 100 years earlier. This sets her on a 30-year search…

Book cover of I and Thou

Brenda Ricotta Why did I love this book?

Bold in its simplicity, Buber communicates the importance of being in the present, recognizing the Divine in each and every human interaction. Rather than a “me and you” conversation, he explains how human communication should be “I and thou.”

By Martin Buber,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked I and Thou as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: [1] that of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; [2] that of the 'I' towards 'Thou', in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.


Considered a landmark of twentieth-century intellectual history, this is Martin Buber's classic treatment…


Explore my book 😀

The Midwife's Heart: Hebrew Midwives Trilogy Book 2

By Brenda Ray,

Book cover of The Midwife's Heart: Hebrew Midwives Trilogy Book 2

What is my book about?

As Abraham's descendants prepare to cross into the Promised Land, led by Moses, Hannah, a disillusioned midwife will be tested in more ways than she can imagine. She wants love, a home, and children but she gave up on that dream years ago. One heartbreak and humiliation was enough.

Ze-ev is God’s warrior, protecting his people. Busy doing what must be done, finding a wife is not his priority. Besides, since his childhood sweetheart married another, he lost interest in seeking a wife.When he meets Hannah, they are both tested in ways they never imagined. Will either of them let down their guard long enough to trust again?

Book cover of Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Book cover of Exodus: A Novel of Israel
Book cover of Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind

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The Road from Belhaven By Margot Livesey,

The Road from Belhaven is set in 1880s Scotland. Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven Farm, Lizzie Craig discovers as a small girl that she can see the future. But she soon realises that she must keep her gift a secret. While she can sometimes glimpse…

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