Words that Sing
Debra Kolodny, editor of Blessed Bi Spirit: Bisexual People of Faith writes of Swinging: "Elizabeth's words sing. Her life soars. This work will doubtless inspire others to claim the lush delights of their own secret gardens."

A Rich Witness
Rosemary Bray McNatt, a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Association and columnist for the UUA magazine, writes, “. . .In Swinging on the Garden Gate Elizabeth J. Andrew, a writing instructor and spiritual director who makes her home in Minneapolis, MN, tells the story of how she awakened to her sexuality, accepted and found an embodied God in the circumstances of her life, and connected to those touched by her self-discovery. The metaphor of her life as a garden first dormant, then blooming, then finally, riotously alive works because Andrew is a writer of such extraordinary power and beauty. The word luminous genuinely applies here there is light shining out of each of the 13 essays that make up this fine book.

“In one breathtaking chapter, ‘Woman in a Wilderness,’ Andrew casts herself into solitude and, she hopes, a new sense of herself. She goes to Wales to study Arthurian legends and to take a month to cross the mountains by bicycle. At the very start of her journey, she is shocked by an unexpected encounter. Walking along a wooded path, coming around a turn, she sees a woman lying face down in the dust. She stops for a moment to check on the unresponsive woman, then panics and runs away, amazed by her own silence in the face of the woman's helplessness.

"’I did not alert professional help,’ she writes. ‘I did not put a finger to her thick white throat to find a pulse.… Touching her in that way would have meant touching my fear. Asking for help would have meant acknowledging my weakness. So I turned my back on her, on myself, just as Jesus taught us not to.’
‘Before the book ends, Andrew travels a road much longer and often rockier than her month-long bicycle trip in Wales. Her infant nephew dies; she comes out as a bisexual to her family and her church community. (‘Those of us who embody ambiguity,’ she writes, ‘distribute alarm equitably in hetero- and homosexual communities alike. We can't be pinned down.’) Yet a simple account of its story line could never do justice to this book's rich witness. As Andrew writes, ‘The story of how we are each embodied spirit is a story of liberation, radical in its theology, political in its transformative power.… Where God resides is any place that creation is at work and truth is spoken.’”

A Wonderful Book
An online reader review states, “Swinging on the Garden Gate is one of the best books I have ever read. Ms. Andrew tells the story of her journey with such amazing honesty. I found the words jumping out of the page at me. I connected with Ms. Andrew's journey at many intersections. Not only did she tell me her story, she introduced me to parts of my own story. It is her honesty in dealing with difficult issues of spirituality, finding yourself, loving who you are, death, and loss that truly make this book a wonderful work of art!”

An Invitation to Story
Another online reader wrote, “Swinging on the Garden Gate, by Elizabeth J. Andrew is an insightful look at the author's internal spiritual journey through what seem, at first, to be extraordinary circumstances. However, they are circumstances that we all encounter--search and discovery, loss and grief, memory and reality. Through sharing her own experience of life and the sacred, Ms. Andrew invites the reader to explore and share his/her own story. Since I read this moving memoir, I have found myself thinking about my own spiritual journey and wanting to share my story with others. While the internal spiritual journey is solitary, sharing the story of our journeys is a life-giving adventure. Thank you, Elizabeth, for your gift.”

Beautifully Written
Another online reader wrote, “Elizabeth J. Andrew describes her process of growing up and the linked journey of coming to terms with her sexuality and spirituality. This book is an absolute godsend for anyone struggling with those issues themselves. Beyond that, it is beautifully written and extremely thoughtful...you're bound to come away from it with some new perspectives and renewed appreciation for the beauty of life.”

Honesty, Grace and Power
Parker Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, writes, "The most important decision anyone can make is to live 'divided no more,' to cease acting on the outside in ways that contradict truths one holds deeply on the inside. Swinging on the Garden Gate is a memoir of one woman's journey into the undivided life. Written with honesty, grace and power, this book is a joy to read, and more. Read carefully, it will call us toward congruence in our own lives, toward an incarnation of truth that will set us-and our world-free."

Depth of Emotion
Sue Schlangen, who has a Masters degree in Human Development and has taught sexuality education classes for the past 10 years, writes, “My most striking observation of the book Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Spiritual Memoir is the depth of emotions Elizabeth conveys as she writes the stories of her life from childhood, adolescence, college, her discovery of her bisexuality, traveling through Wales and living in a spiritual community. Elizabeth writes eloquently about passion, self-awareness, loss, letting go and desires. All are human emotions the reader can relate to even if the reader has not experienced exactly what Elizabeth writes about.

“Elizabeth's memoir breaks down myths about bisexuality. For any bi individual who has felt frustrated by others' assumption that they are no longer bisexual because they are with a partner of one gender or another, Elizabeth's writings are a welcome teaching for the gay, lesbian, transgender, and heterosexual communities that bisexuality embraces the potential of attractions to various genders regardless of the current relationship or relationships one may be in. Embracing her bisexuality when she is with no lover or partner, Elizabeth challenges others' assumptions by powerfully communicating her desires and emotions.

“For those in the GLBT communities who want to embrace their multiple identities, whatever they may be, Elizabeth sets an example and challenge for this to happen in both the GLBT community and her church. Throughout her book, Elizabeth asserts that her sexuality and her Christian faith are not incompatible. Elizabeth writes, "When I sink into the sensual and relentless truths of my sexuality, and find there, hidden in the sticky recesses of my sex where I least expect it, holiness, it seems to me that all of creation's bones and blood, vapor, soil, feathers, and solidity are infused with a sacred word" (p. xv).

“Intertwined with the stories of bisexuality and spirituality, Elizabeth writes about so many common feelings and experiences. She does much in her book to expose experiences of societal shame and discomfort around bodies and sexuality and then offers to readers the hope that those experiences can be healed. She writes delicately and lovingly about her experiences as a girl in adolescence, body awareness, self-pleasuring, celibacy and desires for a loving relationship.

“Throughout her book, Elizabeth honors her spirituality along with her body and claims her body back from the silence of the church that has neglected ‘. . . to ever mention that its congregation had bodies’ (p. 61).

“There is so much of Elizabeth's capacity to feel emotions expressed in Swinging on the Garden Gate . This capacity all by itself would be admirable if that was all that her book encompassed. But Elizabeth adds to that her bravery in speaking the truth about her sexuality and spirituality to both the GLBT community and her church.”