2018 IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Current Events II (Social Issues/Humanitarian) “Meeting in the Margins is a dangerous book. It will move you, shake you, change you, and leave you with a profound sense that you have been in the presence of the holy. Cynthia Trenshaw’s intention is to do just that. She is a brilliant writer. Simply by telling the truth in stories that she herself has lived, she takes us into touching distance of those whom Rabindrinath Tagore called ‘the poorest, the lowliest, and lost.’”
—Pat Schneider, author of Writing Alone and With Others, and How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice, both from Oxford University Press

“A beautifully written, challenging, and thought-provoking book, one that truly leads us to insights and recognitions that make it possible to contemplate a world that works for all. I haven’t seen anything like it. Trenshaw’s book contributes to helping us see the world at the margins with clarity.”
—Margaret J. Wheatley, author of So Far From Home, Perseverance, Turning to One Another, and Leadership and the New Science

“Cynthia Trenshaw is a gifted writer, massage therapist and pilgrim who has chosen to journey with those who are the most vulnerable in our society. As a writer she conveys in vivid and powerful prose the heart-wrenching details of life on the street. As a massage therapist she feels into the stories of those who live in the margins, and anoints their soul-wounds with compassion and courage. As a pilgrim she searches for meaning, her own and ours, with every encounter. This is a prayer-book as well as a text-book for those who choose to journey to the margins of society and be transformed.”
—Mary Ann Finch, founder/director of Care Through Touch Institute, and author of Care Through Touch: Massage, the Art of Anointing

“Cynthia Trenshaw gifts us with an extraordinary window into the soul of the marginalized among us. In exquisite detail of both inner and outer moments of meeting on the streets, the reality of presence she evokes communicates through her stories; it sparks our own celebration of that precious sense of presence. Prepare to be deeply touched. Prepare to remember what is truly important in our lives. This book is itself a gift from soul to soul. Through her open-hearted memories, Trenshaw offers us all a most generous and luxurious soul massage! ”
—Rabbi Ted Falcon, PhD, author of A Journey of Awakening, co-author of Religion Gone Astray, Getting to the Heart of Interfaith, and Judaism For Dummies

“This well-written, often moving account of Trenshaw’s experiences among the homeless and other forgotten individuals at society’s margins evokes a range of responses: apprehension, admiration, revulsion, recognition, and perhaps shame in anyone who’s ever avoided the sight of a street person. Trenshaw, a chaplain and massage practitioner with a degree in theology, shares her experiences seeking out these invisible men and women and offering them not only massage (relaxing for both body and mind) but the greater gift of affirming their 'realness' and 'worth.'”
—Publishers Weekly