Flying, Falling, Catching

An Unlikely Story of Finding Freedom

Henri J. M. Nouwen, Carolyn Whitney-Brown

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780063113527
• eBook ISBN: 9780063113541
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies

“Flying, Falling, Catching is a beacon of hope. It reminds us that despite all the perils and sufferings that surround us, with which we often collide, we can find healing, peace, and awe even in the most unusual detours that life offers. A must read.” — Marina Nemat, Author of international best-seller Prisoner of Tehran

"In Carolyn Whitney-Brown's deft hands, Henri’s intentions literally, vividly swing alive. This is a beautiful, moving story about interconnectivity, interdependence, and life's rich, beautiful, complicated pageant. I devoured it in a sitting.” — Lisa Napoli, Author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie

Henri Nouwen’s real-life story of his surprising friendship with a traveling trapeze troupe.

What will we do with our lives, and with whom will we do it? In this story of flying and catching, Nouwen invites us all to let go and fly, even when we are afraid of falling.

During the last five years of his life, best-selling spiritual author Henri J. M. Nouwen became close to The Flying Rodleighs, a trapeze troupe in a traveling circus. Like Nouwen’s own life, a trapeze act is full of artistry, exhilarating successes, crushing failures and continual forgiveness. He wrote about his experience in a genre new to him: creative non-fiction. 

In Flying, Falling, Catching, Nouwen's colleague and friend Carolyn Whitney-Brown presents his unpublished trapeze writings framed by the true story of his rescue through a hotel window by paramedics during his first heart attack. Readers will meet Nouwen as a spiritual risk taker who was transformed through his engagement with these trapeze artists, as well as his participation in the Civil Rights movement, his life in community with people with intellectual disabilities, his personal growth through friendships during the 1990s AIDS pandemic, and other unexpected encounters.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Prologue: September 1996
• I. The Call
• II. Falling
• III. Teamwork
• IV. Trust the Catcher
• V. Flying
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Credits and Permissions
• About the Authors
• Copyright
• About the Publisher