I’m excited to share that my essay, “The Brazilian Healer and the Patron Saint of Impossible Causes,” has been published and featured on Longreads. This is not an easy story to tell, but it’s time. Here’s an excerpt:
The roosters started at 4:30 in the pasture behind the inn. On the second crow, I rolled onto my back and blinked at the jalousie window’s slatted light, considering my first day at The Casa. We were allowed to ask three questions, no more. A visit with the world’s most famous “spiritual surgeon” was like going to see the wizard.
Mariana was silent in the twin bed next to me, the sleep falling in loose spirals across her face. I pulled back the sheets and slipped inside. “Bom dia.”
“Bom dia, meu amor.” A soft sound from a distant place.
Seven and a half years later, I receive a text from a friend in Rio: “Did you see the news?” She links to a New York Times article: “Celebrity Healer in Brazil Is Accused of Sexually Abusing Followers.”
@Longreads.com
Read it on Longreads and if my story speaks to you, I’d be grateful if you would share it on Twitter. Thanks so much for your support all these years – more exciting writing and publishing news coming up soon!
LEIGH HOPKINS 
Leigh, Thank you for sending me the link to your essay. I am sitting here stunned. It was so beautifully written and so powerful. I hope you are being very very good to yourself, gentle and kind, because the emotions are so profound. Love you and your incredible light, Audrey
Sou brasileira e me sinto envergonhada pelas atrocidades praticadas por esse ser de codinome João de Deus, não sei nem como descrever essa aberração de alma . Vi sua entrevista na “Série João de Deus ” e me emocionei com tanto sofrimento que você passou bem como as vítimas por ele molestadas. Fiquei imaginando o desespero que você sentiu, estando longe do Amor de sua vida e não poder fazer nada. Desejo muita luz na sua vida.