Nardagani
About the Author
Adventure and challenge drive Narda’s personality, taking her on a lifelong journey to seek the unusual. Her interests span the spectrum: from the searing heat of glassblowing to sub-zero mornings on the slope, skiing or snowboarding. She has lived and traveled throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. As a vermicompost expert, she’s formed a passionate relationship with worms. In 2002 she began development of Nardagani, an innovative program designed to help people who struggle to read. It has been adopted by the Idaho State Department of Education. In 2017, Narda presented A New Way to Learn to Read English at TEDxSunValley. Today, she lives in a small mountain town, Ketchum, Idaho, where she runs Nardagani. She learns something every day from her adult children, Sadieanne and Raleigh.
About the Book
This is a true story. From the first sentence, we are in the grip of a narrative that will not let us go. Narda Pitkethly’s brother vanishes amid several clues, in September 2001, near Sun Valley, Idaho. In the search for Jay, the family undertakes extreme measures to find him. This plunges the author into a prolonged search, not only for her brother, but for inspiration and meaning. Her journey—from tragedy to moments of surprising intervention—leads her toward a world that makes sense.
Narda takes us on a roller coaster of emotional survival, through the chaos of her childhood and adolescence to the liberating adventures of foreign travel in her twenties; from the legacy of addiction and depression to a hard-won life of calm sobriety. Woven throughout are the often-colorful strands of a broken family, shattered relationships, creative inspiration, hope and adventure, resilience and recovery. What she discovers along the way is the brother she loved and lost, and a priceless gift she can offer the world: Nardagani, an
innovative reading program for people who struggle to read.
October 3rd, 2001
