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Lydia Friend was born in Israel and raised across the United States. As a teenager, she returned to Israel with an American passport and one question: where is home?
The Diaries of a Teenage Pilgrim: The Early Journey is her story of 1994 to 1998, drawn from journals and memory. She goes from Jerusalem to a war-torn border town, facing false accusations and finding herself on the ice as a hockey player and speed skater while rockets fall nearby. A high school year in the Ozarks with her grandmother brings an accident that breaks her and wakes her calling.
Books 1 and 2 weave in poems, most written as a teenager and some later in memoir form.
Book 1 won a Readers' Favorite Gold Medal in Christian Nonfiction. Leah B. Thomsen of the Christian Book Excellence Awards called it "A Rare and Remarkable Pilgrimage" and praised its "polished, descriptive, and deeply poetic" writing.
Lydia wrote it for anyone who has felt out of place.
Lydia holds a BA in Theology from Israel College of the Bible and directs a nonprofit Bible bookstore in Jerusalem. Between writing and audiobooks, she drinks green tea, eats dark chocolate, and edits puppy pictures. She and her husband live in the Ozarks, where she keeps up with two boys in school and four red medium poodles, and breeds a litter or more each year.
Book 2, Awaken, Songbird, Arise, is in production. Visit pilgrimdiaries.net for her blog and trailer.
Reviewed by Jennifer Senick for Readers' Favorite
Laura Ingalls Wilder once wrote, “I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all,” a sentiment that gently weaves its way through The Diaries of a Teenage Pilgrim: The Early Journey by Lydia Friend. It’s a diary-style coming-of-age tale that follows the author, an American Christian girl born in Galilee, Israel, and raised between the Midwest and the Middle East through her mid-to-late teens. It begins as she’s grappling with the move she must undergo from her “little house in the big woods” in Wisconsin to a new one in her birthplace. The book traces the ordinary and extraordinary moments that shape her personal story, including school, friendships, and questions of faith, up until a truly life-altering event in her late teens, all while she speaks to God for answers and confirmations.
In The Diaries of a Teenage Pilgrim: The Early Journey, Lydia Friend knows who she is and upholds her convictions. The writing drew me in with how honest and grounded it is, even when the situations became incredibly intense. I loved the references to the Little House book series at the beginning. They brought a smile to my face. The writing isn’t flashy, but it definitely comes from the heart. I enjoyed understanding her life through the thoughts she expressed about each event she experienced. I also appreciated how Lydia let the spiritual side of her story unfold naturally, without preaching to the audience. I highly recommend this book. I’ll also gladly read the next installments that the author mentions. This book will interest anyone who enjoys faith-based journeys, stories of international Christian work, and thoughtful tales of growing up.
