Circle of Tears by Jeanne Marie Antoinette is a sensitive, well-written account of the author’s personal journey into the world of modern spiritualism. Opening with a riveting visitation she experienced by the deceased mother of Elian Gonzales—one of the only survivors of an ill-fated escape from Cuba whose story made headlines around the world—Antoinette quickly sets the tone for a powerful and unsettling tale at once autobiographical and pedagogical in nature. 

Antoinette’s journey began long before little Elian was born, when she had her first vision while walking along the sands of a Caribbean island, a moment that led to a lifelong spiritual connection to the ocean as well as other spiritual events that ultimately destined Antoinette to a lifetime of clairvoyant work. A counselor by profession, she spent years aiding the police and families of missing and murdered children in an attempt to solve the mysteries behind their often tragic fates.  

But Circle of Tears is not a heartbreaking recitation of violence and shattered lives. Rather, it touches on numerous, astonishing subjects, from an examination of the little-known Yoruba and Santeria religions to guardian angels, politics, voodoo, the unexplained beaching of porpoises and whales, and Antoinette’s own fascinating search for her roots. Throughout all this, Antoinette deftly weaves the story of young Elian’s arrival in Miami and the media circus that erupted during his controversial custody battle, which had far-reaching implications for Fidel Castro’s iron-fisted regime in Cuba. 

Yet the heart of this surprising and deeply honest tale is comprised of a mother’s love, echoed in the words that Elian’s doomed mother used to recall her life: “Mostly I remember tears. Tears of happiness, sometimes of sadness, but always there were tears. Yes, a whole circle of tears.” Still, as Antoinette wisely reminds us, while there are tears there is also prayer, and prayer, she proclaims, can give rise to a faith big enough to fill “all seven bottomless seas.”