THROUGH THE DARK
A journalist’s incredible story of courage.
Winner of a 2022 Bookfest Award and an International Latino Book Awards Nominated in three categories (Most Inspirational Non-Fiction, Autobiography, and Self-Transformation Book), the book took two Gold and one Silver prize.
Thank you to these wonderful Amazon readers for their reviews!
“A dramatic page turner … powerful and inspiring.” - Pat Quinn
“I loved Yolanda Nava’s resilience in the face of the tragic loss of her sight. Yolanda inspires me to be strong and courageous and be ever hopeful, to re-engage with life when challenges knock me down.” - Lola Taylor
“A truly inspiring personal narrative of a vivacious, successful professional woman who suddenly loses her sight - and chooses to courageously embark on a journey to learn new skills required to live an independent life. Her courage, warmth, and spiritual strength radiate a powerful 'light', even in the darkness of her world.” - Journey Forward
“With her journalistic observational skills, Yolanda chronicles her journey ... She documents how she prevailed over the most daunting obstacles by tapping into her deep belief system and using her spirituality to guide her through as her family, friends, and acquaintances rallied around her.” - JoAnn
Nationally renowned oncologist, Lawrence Piro, M.D., writes in the book’s forward:
“These lessons are for all of us who are warriors in a frail life in need of constant reminders of how to find the courage to be victors and not victims. This book will change your life and you will use the lessons Yolanda shares with us every single day.”
It happened so fast.
A mysterious illness nearly claimed her life – eventually diagnosed as a rare autoimmune disease. Without warning, Yolanda Nava lost sight in one eye, then the other. Her medical team saved her life, but she had to completely start over, facing a series of seemingly insurmountable challenges.
After a lifetime of fighting for the rights of others, she suddenly had to fight for herself.
A high-profile broadcast professional in her Los Angeles hometown, as well as Sacramento, the center of California politics, Yolanda tells her story with the unsentimental objectivity of a seasoned journalist.
Inspiring, uplifting, and transcendent in purpose, Through The Dark reads like a gripping thriller as she conducts an investigation into her own life.
Yolanda Nava’s mission is not to dwell on darkness. As the title makes clear, by the force of her own resilience, she moved past the darkness, into the light, and hopes her story can help others do the same.
As with her best-selling book It’s All in the Frijoles (Simon & Schuster), Yolanda draws from a deep well of spiritual and cultural wisdom.
Her mission is to empower readers on their own healing journeys –– not just to survive, but to thrive –– and to live and love, with light.
THANK YOU
to these writers, film-makers, artists and spiritual leaders
for their praise:
“A splendid book I read in one sitting! Through the Dark is a study in courage, resilience, and faith. It is one thing to suddenly lose sight. But to learn now this was happening in the midst of a devastating marital betrayal is mind-blowing! Yolanda’s unsparing honesty in sharing her journey through darkness and into creating a rich new life, is such a brave gift to anyone struggling to find some form of light in their own lives.”
Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
Author of A Woman of Independent Means
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“Through the Dark is a testament to strength, courage, determination, and unwavering faith. The book is not only an inspirational guide for anyone facing a crisis but a guide to life. I highly recommend it and wish it the great success it deserves.”
Orlando Romero
Author, Historian, and Retired Columnist
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“Through the Dark breathes inspiration into the reader. This book will take you into the light of healing, love, and the power of transformation. Nava tells her story with courage, humility, and generosity. She wants us to know her journey so that we can walk ours remembering how she overcame challenges that have taught her the power and wisdom she possesses today.”
Rabbi Malka Drucker
Author of Embracing Wisdom: Soaring in the Second Half of Life
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“Who among us has not faced our own personal dark night of the soul? And if we haven’t one day we shall. It varies from person to person, however what we discover is no one can take that trek with us or for us; it is a profoundly personal experience. That is the reason this book will resonate with you. Yolanda understands how to navigate through the darkest of nights, metaphorically and literally. She knows from whence she speaks because she has been there. While her journey into—and through—the darkness may well differ from yours or mine you may trust if you follow Yolanda’s lead you will emerge from your personal darkness a changed being and that is what the journey of the soul (the Hero’s journey) is all about; a return to wholeness. Through the Dark is an exquisite sojourn which ultimately leads you back to the sacred place of your origin—the place you never really left; your oneness with the Beloved. Read the book, breathe, and smile. You can thank me later :)”
Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones
Best-selling Author of The Art of Uncertainty: How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It, The Art of Abundance: Ten Rules for a Prosperous Life, and other great books!
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“As one observer said, ‘This is not a story of a blind woman, but an extraordinary woman who became blind; who defied doom by continuing to seek the light that lives within her to offset any challenge, disappointments, and trauma she may face.’ The author’s life has been both one of faith and daring in many ways as she reveals lessons learned through careers, successful advocacy, regrets, difficult relationships, and a near fatal illness. Yolanda Nava’s story has many lessons for people who might want to give up, have already given up, or who need inspiration to move through unexpected illness and trauma and how to keep going with renewed resolve and hope.”
Michele Pantaleo Jackman
Life and Work Coach, Co-Author of Star Teams, Key Players: Career Strategies
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“Compelling cover depicting a great deal of symbolism. Yolanda Nava’s message is truly illuminating.”
Dorinda Moreno
Poet, Activist, Founder of Women of the Americas
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“A beautiful woman with an exuberant spirit whose work has touched many lives is struck down by a rare near fatal disease that robs her of her sight. A book with this storyline could be sad and disheartening. Instead, Yolanda Nava’s telling is a celebration of life, a demonstration of courage, and the elevation of wisdom to a place of awe. Yolanda and this book are a blessing to us all.”
The Honorable Henry Cisneros
Community Builder, Statesman, Author of 13 books including, Interwoven Destinies: Cities and the Nation
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“Through the Dark by Yolanda Nava is a book that embodies Sabiduría—not only Wisdom but Knowing and Understanding. It is a Tour de Force memoir of a heartfelt soul journey. Both moving and compelling, the book calls upon the Ancestors and Family, validates Culture, Grace, and Love, and embodies the best of who we are: Spirits who Inhabit this Miracle Called Life. Thank you, Comadre Yolanda, for your deep work. A Blessing it is. Your words will enlighten, transform and heal many.”
Denise Chávez
Founder of Libros para el Viaje, Owner of Casa Camino Real Bookstore in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Author of The King and Queen of Comezón and Loving Pedro Infante, among other works
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“Yolanda Nava's book reads like a thriller. It's hard to put down even though we already know the ending. But the ending is not truly an ending but essentially a beginning for Yolanda and the reader. Yolanda could have succumbed to her sudden blindness and given up her picante spirit, her mobility, and her passion to make a difference—but she didn't. She forged ahead, she blundered, fell down, got up, dusted herself off, and ultimately mastered the new skills needed to navigate in a forbidding world of darkness. But as her good friend Julie said to her, ‘You are not a blind woman, you are a woman who happens to be blind.’ This is a book you will want to return to again and again. Her words are discreet compact messengers of God's love and loving intentions. Lucky for us, Yolanda Nava took the road less traveled and ‘that has made all the difference.’”
Ruth Broyde Sharone
Prize-winning Documentary Filmmaker, Author of the interfaith memoir, Minefields & Miracles: Why God and Allah Need to Talk, and the Creator of This is Who We Are: The Interfaith Musical.
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“Some years ago, Yolanda Nava and I met sitting next to each other on a panel in a conference on Immigrant Rights at New Mexico State University. Beautiful and of strong presence, a woman of power, her blindness but made her insight shine that much more clearly. Her writing of the thorn-paved path that led to her loss of sight and turmoil in her life to her triumph aided by her strong faith, Through the Dark, can be a healing gift to all suffering a devastating pandemic, the disastrous effects of climate change, the torment of injustice, and the unavoidable pain life brings.”
Rafael Jesús González
Poet Laureate Emeratus
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“Through the Dark is the story of a colorful, dynamic, impactful woman’s life tragically disturbed by an unexpected tornado that dislodged her life and left her husbandless, homeless, without income and most importantly without her sight. From the unimaginable, she takes us on a remarkable and personal journey through her Land of Oz where she finds courage, love, wisdom, friendship and a deep transformative spirituality. Her story is an inspiration for any and all of us who find ourselves challenged by life’s tornados—small or big.”
Dr. Sam Alibrando
Clinical Therapist, Speaker, and Author of Follow the Yellow Brick Road: How to Change for the Better When Life Gives You Its Worst, The Three Dimensions of Emotions: Finding the Balance of Power, Heart and Mindfulness
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“No matter how advanced our understanding of life, all of us need to ever more completely let in the God-given light that is all around us. Yolanda Nava, though now without physical sight, sees with greater clarity than ever. And in THROUGH THE DARK she teaches by example how, no matter what the challenge -- and maybe even because of earthly passages that can seem devastatingly dark -- the vision of each one of us also can be illuminated, uplifted, and overflowing with grace and healing power. After all, as Yolanda demonstrates, that God-given light around us is also the God-given light within us!”
Dr. Carol Soucek King
Author and Founder / Salon on the Spiritually Creative Life