A memoir of sex, angst, and rocks, Turn to Stone chronicles one woman’s ascent—on walls of stone and within herself—as she faces her demons and finds freedom and power in the raw and wild adventure of rock climbing.
Down on the ground, it was hard to connect, hard to attach, hard to untangle, hard to let go. But up here, I understood. Up here, I could make it good.
Broken by an abusive relationship, Emily Meg Weinstein impulsively tries rock climbing on a California road trip, following strangers into the vertical world. Soon, she is consumed by her addiction to the freedom she feels when she’s up on the wall. Holding on to the rocks, she is free from societal constraints and expectations, free from her own sorrows and longings.
Raw and dark, but also funny, Weinstein describes the steep learning curve of becoming a climber, spending weeks at a time sleeping in the back of her Subaru, and a long, dark night stuck on top of a mountain. As she ascends, Weinstein faces her demons, finding power and grace in risk and adventure. Like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, but in the vertical, or William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, if lived by a Jewish woman from Long Island, Turn to Stone tells the story of a journey into nature that becomes a crucible of self-discovery.
Against a tapestry of van-dwellers, anarchists, and Jedi-like Stonemasters, Weinstein explores a world where each leap of faith is an existential lesson. From living on the edge, stepping into the unknown, and falling through thin air, Emily learns to forgive her own failures, heal her deepest wounds, and find courage in the face of fear. Throwing herself at walls of stone, she learns what it means to be human. Fitting her body into the rocks’ broken places, she makes herself whole.
“Weinstein’s poignant writing and vulnerable memoir of self-discovery, forgiveness, and friendship will endear readers, both those who don’t need to hang from stone walls and members of the rock-climbing community who will value the details of each climbing escapade. Weinstein reclaims her spirit, living an authentic life on her own terms.” —Booklist
"Weinstein makes a case for stepping radically outside of one’s physical and philosophical comfort zone to find strength and purpose." — Kirkus Reviews
“Turn to Stone marks the arrival of a brave, feminist, seeking, and essential voice in nonfiction. Read this book and be forever changed.” --Emily Rapp Black, New York Times bestselling author of The Still Point of the Turning World and Sanctuary
“With prose that seems magic, Emily Meg Weinstein captures the inmost, almost-inexpressible experiences of climbing: those moments of transmutation, high above the ground, of stone into light, air into freedom, body into song.” —Katie Ives, Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams
