Mary Dixon's soul retrieval came the hard way, through mires of drug addiction and abuse and a family steeped with mental illness. The shamanistic practice and ritual of soul-retrieval: to reclaim what one has lost along the way in life and to redefine one's journey-maybe even one's origin story. Soul Retrieval is also postmodern ode to Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece, The Prophet, and tackles all of life's most profound themes, from Love all the way to Death. The novel begins with a present-day frame, with the opening chapter, "The Coming of the Ship". Mary is riding a train in France. She doesn't speak the language and can't find her seat. She wanders from car to car with her overstuffed suitcases, astonished to find herself within this absurdly apt living metaphor. This symbol of life and its sections: train cars for life-stories, connected together.

She has a copy of "The Prophet" which turns out to be more important to her life story than she realized. She begins to recall, to meditate, and so the story begins. Her first memory hinges on her return to Maine in the 1990s from California. Her parents bring her to a rehab in Maine, where she is the first heroin addict to be treated, and where a racist counselor is in charge of her case. This unlikely man, who fought in Viet Nam, tells his "killer" story again and again, and Mary hates him. But she realizes she's telling her own "killer" story, too. She's made of stories, just like everyone else. She begins to travel her stories to find her truth and reclaim her life.