About The Book
What happens when the faith culture that shaped your life begins to fracture?
In Reclaiming the Clay, a young girl grows up in a Dutch Calvinist immigrant community in mid-twentieth-century Canada, surrounded by family, tradition, and a deep sense of belonging. Through interconnected stories, a blend of fiction and memoir, Annita Maat draws readers into the everyday rhythms of church, school, and home, where joy and curiosity sit alongside discipline, loss, and questions that don’t easily go away.
Over time, those questions deepen into a crisis, ultimately leading to her expulsion from the very community that formed her. Yet the story does not end there.
Something else begins to take shape: a resilient faith shaped not by doctrine alone, but by compassion, humility, and shared responsibility. In that small, committed Christian community, wounded lives are welcomed, and healing begins in quiet, practical ways, day by day.
In the spirit of the Master Potter’s work in restoring what has been misshapen, Reclaiming the Clay is a powerful exploration of faith, belonging, and transformation.
About The Author
Annita Maat brings her lived experiences to Reclaiming the Clay. She grew up in a Dutch Calvinist immigrant community in mid-twentieth-century Canada and later spent twelve years in an intentional Christian community, where people facing difficult circumstances were welcomed and supported as they found their way toward hope and healing.
By profession, Annita is a teacher, but storytelling has been part of her life for as long as she can remember. She edited her school newspaper, wrote plays as a student, contributed to a college publication, and later wrote for and helped edit a Christian labour magazine. Over the years, she has continued to write articles, stories, and poetry, drawn to the way storytelling can help make sense of life’s more complicated moments.
Annita enjoys working with clay on the pottery wheel, a practice that echoes the themes of shaping and restoration found in her writing. She lives in the Greater Toronto Area with her husband of more than fifty years, Derk. Together they have three married children and nine grandchildren, who bring a steady mix of energy, perspective, and joy to their lives.
Get in Touch with Annita below:
Do you have a book to publish? I partnered with FriesenPress — start your publishing journey here.