When I first encountered Nikki Helmik, the protagonist of the book, I really didn't like her. She was akin to Brenda, the promiscuous lover in HBO's "Six Feet Under," who couldn't open herself to the vulnerability of love, but who consumed lovers like cheap chocolates. As I read further, I began to understand a bit more of her life that had made her as she was, but still I didn't have a lot of empathy for her. I felt uncomfortable with the soft man-bashing that Nikki and her friends engaged in, though I have witnessed some of those attitudes in groups of women before.

I kept reading, because I was impressed with Kaplan-Maxfield's gift with words and how he was able to fashion realistic, but very flawed characters. It wasn't until about 100 pages into the story, when Nikki is given the task of finding a lost family journal, that I began to read furiously.

Kaplan-Maxfield not only had a mystery to unravel now, but he also had a whole different set of female characters who were so different from Nikki's friends. They were strong, powerful, yet tender women, who hunted, healed, divined, and fought alongside men. As Nikki discovered them through contemporary women and her female ancestors, something begins to happen; changes begin to occur in Nikki, and healing finally comes. She completes herself through her connection with her past.

Though Kaplan-Maxfield writes about the ancient lore of a belief system that is a mix of Druidism and some even older spiritual practice that is part of Nikki's heritage, it isn't the beliefs or the spiritual techniques that she learns about that have much of anything to do with Nikki's redemption. The psychological and spiritual changes come from her own growing discipline, dignity, and sense of purpose.

Memoirs of a Shapeshifter is Kaplan-Maxfield's fourth novel and definitely is a masterpiece.