A Place of Exodus
Home, Memory, and Texas

Acclaimed poet and memoirist David Biespiel tells the story of the rise and fall of a Jewish boyhood in Texas, and his search for the answer to his life's central riddle: Are we ever done leaving home? Growing up in a family devoted to Jewish identity, Biespiel comes under the tutelage of the head rabbi of the largest conservative congregation in North America. After the rabbi kicks him out of the synagogue during a public quarrel, Biespiel leaves Texas and his religious upbringing behind. After a near-forty-year exile from Texas, he returns for a day to see home--and himself--in a way that changes his relationship to the world around him. Biespiel draws on a lifetime of writing to create this memoir, an essential companion for anyone who has journeyed far from home.