Includes study guide (pages 274-277)

Acknowledgments -- Introduction to the 20th Anniversary Edition -- Introduction -- Part One: Awakening -- "That's How I Like to See a Woman" -- Conceiving the Feminine Self -- The Deep Sleep -- The Nest of Yellow Leaves -- The Feminine Wound -- Faces of Daughterhood -- Forming a Feminist Critique -- Trusting Your Own Feminine Source -- Part Two: Initiation -- The Unexplored Gorge -- Opening to the Feminine Divine -- Crossing the Threshold -- A Guiding Feminine Myth -- Part Three: Grounding -- Encountering Goddess -- Why a Feminine Form for the Formless? -- The Coming of Herself -- The Symbol Functions -- The Dawn of Feminine Spiritual Consciousness -- Healing the Feminine Wound -- Transfiguring Anger -- Forgiveness -- The Dance of Dissidence -- Part Four: Empowerment -- Cohesion of the Female Soul -- Authentic Power -- Buffalo Medicine -- Voicing the Soul -- Finding Inner Authority -- Embodying Sacred Feminine Experience -- Daughters, the Women are Speaking -- The Story -- A Conversation with Sue Monk Kidd -- The Dance of the Dissident Daughter Study Guide -- Notes -- Permissions

"Sue Monk was a 'conventionally religious, churchgoing woman, a traditional wife and mother' with a thriving career as a Christian writer until she began to question her role as a woman in her culture, her family, and her church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore to monastery retreats and rituals in the caves of Crete, Kidd takes readers through the fear, anger, healing, and transformation of her awakening. Retaining a meaningful connection 'with the deep song of Christianity, ' she opens the door for traditional Christian women to discover a spirituality that speaks directly to them and provides inspiring wisdom for all who struggle to embrace their full humanity"--Publisher's description